6IFT  OF 
ROBEKT 
BE1PHER. 


Protestant  Miracles. 


HIGH  ORTHODOX  AND  EVANGELICAL  AUTHORITY  FOR 

THE  BELIEF   IN   DIVINE   INTERPOSITION 

IN   HUMAN   AFFAIRS. 


SOME   ACCOUNT    OF    MARVELOUS    CURES    OF    ILLNESS, 

RESCUE   FROM    DANGER.    DEATH,    POVERTY    AND 

SUFFERING,  THROUGH  FAITH  AND  PRAYER, 

IN    RECENT    CENTURIES. 


Compiled  from  the  Writings  of  Men  Eminent  in  Protestant  Churches. 


By  F.  J.  Ryan. 

n 


STOCKTON.  GAL. 
RECORD  PUBLISHING  Co.,  PRINTERS. 

1899. 


COPYRIGHT 

1899 
BY    F.    J.     RYAN. 


PREFACE. 


This  work  was  begun  with  very  little  thought  that  it  would 
ever  become  a  book.  Its  origin  is  this:  I  had  been  reading 
and  hearing  lectures  on  Christian  Science,  on  metaphysical 
healing;  mental  science,  etc.,  for  some  months,  when  there 
seemed  to  be  almost  a  general  onslaught  on  the  first  named 
system  of  religion  and  therapeutics,  by  orthodox  clergymen, 
newspaper  writers,  coroners  and  other  public  officers,  even  to 
legislators.  The  animosity  appeared  to  reach  its  climax  in  my 
home  city  just  about  the  time  the  Scientist  congregation  an- 
nounced as  the  subject  of  its  Wednesday  evening  meeting,  "Is 
Christian  Science  a  Delusion?" 

In  examining  the  affirmative  side  of  the  proposition  I  found 
the  basis  thereof  to  be  a  Protestant  dogma  to  the  effect  that 
the  age  of  miracles  had  passed  away  with  the  immediate  suc- 
cessors to  the  apostles.  I  also  found  that  the  men  who  held 
to  this  dogma  prayed  with  apparent  fervor  for  especial  bless- 
ings upon  their  favorite  charities,  Sabbath  schools,  enterprises, 
and  about  the  time  the  onslaught  was  made,  that  orthodox 
Protestant  clergymen  were  lobbying  for  appointment  as  chap- 
lains to  several  legislative  bodies  where  they  must  pray  for  the 
rare  miracles  of  the  investment  of  those  bodies  with  wisdom. 

I  remembered  well  the  stories  told  by  revivalists  in  my 
youth — I  hadn't  heard  any  revival  sermons  for  a  generation — 
of  how  they  were  aided  in  their  work  by  miraculous  means. 

164804 


I  remembered  also  that  some  clergymen  had  regarded  the  as- 
sassins, Booth  and  Guiteau,  as  instruments  of  Providence,  It 
didn't  matter  that  these  were  ministers  of  the  gospel  of  hatred 
when  their  sectional  prejudices  were  stirred.  I  never  heard  of 
any  of  them  being  disciplined  for  what  Northern  clergymen 
of  the  same  churches  usually  regarded  as  blasphemy.  With 
these  matters  in  mind  I  set  about  investigating  the  truth  or 
falsity  of  the  plea  that  Protestants  agreed  on  the  proposition 
that  the  age  of  miracles  had  passed  away  with  the  second  cen- 
tury of  our  era.  I  was  astounded  at  the  result  of  my  first 
week's  search  by  finding  that  many  of  the  most  responsible, 
scholarly,  eminent  and  effective  laborers  in  the  Protestant 
field  of  Christianity,  in  every  century,  and  perhaps  in  every 
year  since  the  Reformation,  including  Luther,  have  not  only 
believed  in  but  put  themselves  on  record  as  believing  in  mira- 
culous healing  of  the  sick;  of  the  rescue  of  the  righteous  from 
death  by  storm,  by  flood,  by  fire,  by  accident,  by  crime,  by 
freezing  and  other  means,  in  answer  to  prayer.  I  have  also 
found  cases  in  which  clergymen  have  endorsed,  as  true,  stories 
of  the  vindication  of  just  persons  from  grave  accusations  of 
crime  and  other  miraculous  occurrences;  of  special  provi- 
dences and  divine  interpositions  in  human  affairs  for  the  pro- 
motion of  religion  and  justice. 

In  pursuing  my  researches  for  material  I  have  examined 
several  hundred  volumes  by  authors  of  acknowledged  ability, 
learning  and  authority.  While  I  have  found  something  of 
value  in  nearly  every  work,  many  of  them  contain  matter  that 
is  in  substance  repetitions  of  some  other  authors.  Some  are 
amusing  for  the  simplicity  they  seem  to  ascribe  to  their 
readers.  This  class,  though  it  includes  some  of  the  most 


learned  and  famous,  seems  to  suppose  the  reader  will  not  or 
cannot  detect  discrepancies  of  statement  or  inconsistences  of 
argument,  when  the  inconsistent  or  incompatible  statements  or 
arguments  are  widely  separated. 

Some  are  intrinsically  and  apparently  intentionally  amus- 
ing. Of  this  class  is  Scientific  Sophisms,"  by  Samuel  Wain- 
wright,  D.  D.  While  it  does  not  defend  miracles  it  ridicules 
that  class  of  scientists  who  seem  to  require  readers  to  reject 
the  supernatural  for  the  hyper-natural,  who  spin  metaphysical 
theories  as  intangible  and  unintelligible  and  that  convey  as 
little  information  on  the  subject  to  the  average  mind  as  do 
the  clouds  that  chase  each  other  or  tumble  and  roll  over  each 
other  during  a  summer  storm.  These  theorists  seem  to  expect 
their  reader  to  play  Polinius  to  their  Hamlet  and  declare  that 
they  see  in  those  nebulous  theories  whales,  camels  or  weasels, 
as  the  theorist  may  suggest,  without  detecting  the  inconsist- 
ency or  absurdity  of  the  theories  or  assumptions. 

In  reading  the  various  hypotheses  advanced  by  material- 
ists— philosophers  real  and  presumptive — to  explain  away 
miracles,  the  conclusion  is  often  forced  on  the  reader  that  it 
requires  more  credulity  to  accept  the  theory  than  to  accept  the 
miracle.  They  seem  to  imagine  that  in  calling  marvelous 
occurrences  "phenomena"  they  have  disposed  of  the  question. 
It  never  seems  to  occur  to  them  that  their  writings  will  be  read 
by  those  who  can  distinguish  between  matters  of  terminology 
and  matters  of  logic,  or  that  any  will  perceive  that  to  call  a 
miracle  a  phenomenon  does  not  take  it  out  of  the  realm  of  the 
miraculous. 

It  may  strike  some  of  those  who  read  this  work  that  the 
authorities  I  quote  in  support  of  the  opinion  that  the  age  of 


miracles  has  not  passed  away,  do  not  agree  well.  That  must 
be  granted,  but  the  disagreement  is  principally  as  to  what  are 
miracles.  However  inconsistent  the  arguments  of  one  may  be 
with  those  advanced  by  others,  the  inconsistency  is  no  concern 
of  mine.  The  main  fact  remains  that  most  of  those  from  whom 
I  quote  deserve  to  rank  as  leaders  of  Protestant  thought  and 
others  are,  at  least,  non-Catholic,  so  that  in  quoting  them  I  am 
consistent  with  the  purpose  I  had  in  view  in  undertaking  to 
show  that  Protestants,  under  which  classification  I  include  all 
who  are  neither  Catholics,  Jews,  Atheists,  Spiritualists,  Swe- 
denborgians  nor  anti-Christians,  are  by  no  means  unanimous 
in  the  belief  that  no  real  miracles  have  been  wrought  since 
the  death  of  the  immediate  successors  of  the  apostles. 

Some  may  want  to  know  who  is  the  author  of  this  little 
volume.  He  is  a  very  obscure  person  and  his  personality  is 
not  involved.  If  the  reader  doubts  anything  stated  herein  as 
fact,  he  doubts  not  the  author  but  the  authority  to  whom  he 
refers  or  whom  he  quotes.  He  has  sought  to  verify  his  state- 
ments and,  as  far  as  possible,  has  confined  himself  to  works 
that  may  be  found  in  almost  all  public  libraries  in  cities  of 
say  half  a  century's  growth.  The  author  is  old  in  newspaper 
work,  but  this  department  of  literary  work  is  new  to  him  and 
critics  will  probably  see  in  it  the  evidence  of  journalistic 
journey-work  and  lack  of  literary  finish — the  ornamentals  of 
book-architecture.  These  were  not  the  object  of  the  work  and 
I  have  made  fact  the  first  object  and  argument  the  second.  If 
the  few  arguments  are  good  and  well  based  they  need  neither 
a  celebrated  name  nor  the  gilding,  molding,  carving  or  fillagree 
work  of  the  word-artist  to  support  them.  On  its  merits  this 
little  book  is  respectfully  submitted.  F.  J.  R. 


PROTESTANT  DISBELIEF. 


IT  OVERSHOT  ITS  MARK  AND  CAUSED  ITS  AUTHORS 
TROUBLE. 

When  it  is  asserted,  as  it  often  is,  that  the  age  of  miracles 
has  long  been  passed,  it  becomes  a  matter  of  interest  to  know 
when  the  age  ended.  The  time  usually  given,  by  those  who 
regard  themselves  as  orthodox  Christians,  is  the  end  of  the 
second  century.  They  rarely  go  into  particulars  as  to  the  ex- 
act year  or  even  the  decade,  but  the  impression  gained  is  that 
miracles  went  out  about  the  time  that  Constantine  made 
Christianity  fashionable. 

Constantine  embraced  Christianity  A.  D.  313  and  his  con- 
version was  one  of  the  last  miracles  that  are  now  generally 
recognized  as  genuine  by  orthodox  Protestants.  Catholics 
believe  that  miracles  are  still  wrought  by  men  of  exceptionally 
pure  and  Christ-like  lives.  Even  Father  DeSmet,  in  his  letters 
from  the  missions,  in  what  was  then  Oregon  territory,  tells  of 
some  phenomena  that  were  miraculous  and,  if  my  memory  is 
not  at  fault,  among  them  were  the  exorcising  of  evil  spirits. 
I  cannot  now  find  the  letters  to  which  I  refer,  but  my  recol- 
lection is  that  these  stories  were  published  in  a  Catholic  weekly 
paper  in  St.  Louis  during  about  the  years  1844  to  1848.  It  will 
not  do  to  quote  Catholic  authority,  however,  as  Protestants 


g  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

generally  discredit  their  accounts.  Even  the  authors  of  the 
Bampton  lectures,  whose  object  is  to  defend  the  Gospel  ac- 
counts of  miracles  against  disbelievers,  discredit  Catholic  mira- 
cles and  ignore  all  other  miracles  than  those  recorded  in  the 
canonical  scriptures.  The  same  course  of  reasoning  adopted 
by  the  Bampton  lectures  would  suffice  to  substantiate  other  ac- 
counts of  miracles,  but  the  lectures  skillfully  avoid  that  con- 
clusion by  ignoring  the  events  presented  as  miraculous. 

For  the  purpose  of  the  argument  the  word  "miracle"  is 
here  employed  in  the  ordinary  sense  in  which  it  is  popularly 
employed,  viz:  An  event  occurring  or  effect  brought  about 
by  means  beyond  or  above  the  natural  laws  known  to  physical 
science. 

As  a  rule  orthodox  Protestants  scout  all  accounts  of 
modern  miracles,  but  there  are  exceptions  to  the  rule;  notably 
among  the  revivalists  who  in  their  zeal  tell  the  most  marvelous 
stories  of  divine  preservation  of  life;  rescue  from  death  by 
accident,  famine,  pestilence  or  assassination. 


THE   BAMPTON  LECTURES. 


EFFORTS  OF  PROTESTANTS  TO  ARREST   THE   RESULT 
OF  THEIR  OWN  DOUBTS. 

The  efforts  of  Protestants  to  discredit  and  cause  disbelief 
in  "Catholic"  miracles  had  an  unforeseen  effect.  It  aroused  a 
spirit  of  investigation  and  one  effect  of  that  was  the  gradual 
discrediting  not  only  of  all  ecclesiastical  and  apostolic  mira- 
cles but  widesoread  attacks  on  the  belief  in  "miracles  of  any 
.  kind.  This  skepticism  seems  to  have  invaded  the  churches 
and  the  inroads  of  the  spirit  of  inquiry,  skepticism  and  criti- 
cism were  so  great  that  the  churches  found  themselves  com- 
pelled to  take  the  defensive. 

In  the  course  of  time  the  ablest  men  in  all  the  orthodox 
churches  were  retained  to  deliver  sermons  and  lectures;  to 
write  replies  to  and  refutations  of  the  arguments  of  those  who 
discredited  or  belittled  miracles  in  any  age.  The  result  is  a 
vast  mass  of  literature,  widely  diffused;  much  of  it  conflicting 
and  inconsistent,  but  all  tending  to  preserve  the  foundation  of 
orthodoxy,  which,  if  miracles  and  myths  should  be  proved  to 
be  synonymous,  would  crumble  like  the  mortar  in  the  Buden- 
siek  tenement  house  of  New  York  (which  was  made  princi- 
pally of  mud)  and  bury  many  pious  people  in  the  ruins. 

The  Bamoton  lecture  series  was  one  of  the  most  notable 
of  the  organized  defenses  of  the  miraculous  origin  of  Chris- 


Io  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

tianity.  The  fund  to  support  these  lectures  was  a  bequest  by 
John  Bampton,  canon  of  Salisbury,  who  died  in  1751  and  left 
his  wealth  in  trust  to  support  the  lecture  courses. 

John  Tyndall  deals  without  mercy  with  the  distinction  be- 
tween miracles  and  special  providences  which  Dr.  Mozley,  one 
of  the  Bampton  lecturers,  attempted  to  establish.  In  "Frag- 
ments of  Science,"  page  379,  Tyndall  says  arguments  against 
modern  miracles  are  quite  as  forcible  against  ancient,  in  which 
all  Christians  believe,  and  adds  that  in  the  "fascination  of  a 
desire  to  establish  or  avoid  a  certain  result — a  favorite  pastime 
with  some  minds — they  mix  proof  and  trust,  which  was  dan- 
gerous to  scientific  minds.  What  must  it  be  to  Mozley's  in- 
discriminate audiences." 

Lecky,  in  his  ''Rationalism  in  Europe,"  shows  how  men, 
whose  minds  had  once  been  started  in  the  direction  of  doubt 
of  the  miraculous,  rushed  from  polytheism  past  monotheism 
to  atheism  and  placed  the  clergy  and  the  churchmen  in  general 
in  the  awkward  position  of  teaching  the  miraculous  of  the 
past  and  denying  the  possibility  of  it  in  the  present.  The  in- 
consistency of  orthodoxy,  so  far  as  the  established  church  of 
England  is  concerned,  is  illustrated  by  a  controversy  "Chris- 
tianity and  Agnosticism,"  published  by  Appleton  &  Co.  in.  1889. 
In  that  volume  three  eminent  English  churchmen,  Henry  Wace, 
D.  D.,  the  Bishop  of  Peterboro,  and  W.  H.  Mallock,  com- 
bined their  talents  in  an  effort  to  refute  the  arguments  of  Prof. 
Thomas  H.  Huxley.  A  perusal  of  the  volume  will  show  how 
churchmen  stagger  under  the  burden  they  have  assumed. 

William  Howitt,  in  speaking  of  the  apostolic  miracles,  and 


THE  HAMPTON  LECTURES.  IT 

what  appeared  to  be  general  Protestant  disbelief  in  them,  said: 
"If  they  are  not  true,  Christianity  is  not  true.  If  they  are 
true,  the  fault  lies  with  us  if  we  lack  the  power  of  performing 
them;  we  have  not  the  vital  Christianity  and  only  half  Chris- 
tianity." Howitt  was  a  clergyman  and  was  eminent  in  litera- 
ture in  his  day. 

EMINENT  BELIEVERS  IN  MIRACLES. 
It  seems  strange,  passing  strange,  that  those  who  have 
written  volumes  in  defense  of  the  gospel  accounts  of  miracles 
should  either  ignore  the  accounts  of  apostolic  miracles,  those 
of  the  early  fathers,  or  of  latter  years,  yet  this  is  done.  E.  A. 
Bertram,  in  his  "Homeletic  Encyclopaedia,"  quotes  extensively 
from  ecclesiastical  writers  from  the  earliest  days  in  defense 
and  explanation  of  the  miracles  of  the  gospels  and  follows 
these  with  equally  extensive  quotations  from  like  writers  to 
discredit  later  miracles.  St.  Augustine  is  first  quoted  to  the 
effect  that  miracles  had  ceased  and  that  they  "would  not  move 
if  not  wonderful  and  if  usual  would  not  be  wonderful."  In  a 
foot  note,  however,  the  compiler  quotes  later  words  of  Augus- 
tine which  say  miracles  were  being  Wrought  "even  now,"  which 
was  in  the  fifth  century,  Augustine's  latest  writings  having 
been  done  in  429.  All  the  other  authorities  quoted  range  from 
the  eleventh  century  down  to  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  except 
Gregory,  who  was  so  much  of  a  wonder-worker  that  he  was  on 
that  account  sumamed  Thauinaturgis.  The  accounts  of  the 
miracles  he  performed  challenge  the  capacity  of  the  reader  to 
believe.  Gregory  died  in  the  year  234,  so  that  his  testimony, 
as  well  as  his  miracles,  may  be  left  out  of  consideration. 


J2  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

The  late  Cardinal  Newman  published  a  work  on  the  mira- 
cles of  the  Roman  Catholic  church,  but  Protestants,  of  course, 
ignore  it.  It  may  be  remarked,  apropos  of  what  is  recognized 
or  ignored  by  Protestants  and  seetarists  (if  they  are  not  the 
same),  that  for  years  they  ignored  Newman's  magnificent 
hymn,  "Lead,  Kindly  Light,"  because,  after  he  wrote  it,  he  be- 
came a  Catholic  and  a  priest.  It  is  the  purpose  here,  however, 
to  deal  with  Protestant  doubt  and  effort  to  discredit  all  mira- 
cles of  modern  times,  and  especially  the  healing  of  diseases, 
so  that  Newman  may  be  left  out  of  the  account  for  the  present, 
at  least. 


EPISCOPAL  MIRACLES. 

WHY  THEY  AND  BELIEF  IN  THEM  ARE  HARD  TO  FIND. 
SOME  STRIKING  EXCEPTIONS  TO  THE  RULE. 

The  reason  this  article,  devoted  to  miracles  and  the  belief 
in  them  in  the  Anglican  church  (which  includes  the  Protestant- 
Episcopal  church  in  the  United  States),  is  short,  is  that  belief 
in  modern  miracles  is  discouraged  by  that  organization.  While 
the  book  of  common  prayer  indicates  a  belief  that  God  will 
comply  with  requests  for  blessings,  the  writers  of  the  church 
have  left  very  little  record  of  events  of  a  marvelous  character 
or  of  a  practical  belief  in  the  miraculous  beyond  the  miracles  of 
the  bible. 

A  search  of  the  available  books  on  the  subject  resulted  in 
the  discovery  of  some  striking  exceptions  to  the  rule  of  disbe- 
lief. Macaulay,  in  Vol.  1,  page  61,  of  his  history  of  England, 
says  that  it  was  objected  to  Henry  VIII  being  the  head  of  the 
church,  that  St.  Paul  had  spoken  of  certain  persons  whom  the 
Holy  Ghost  had  made  overseers  and  shepherds  of  the  faithful. 
Henry's  friends  were  ready  with  the  answer  that  he  was  the 
very  overseer,  the  very  shepherd  whom  the  Holy  Ghost  had 
appointed  and  to  whom  the  expression  of  St.  Paul  applied. 
Among  those  who  held  that  view  was  Cranmer,  who  taught  that 
the  royal  and  sacerdotal  characters  had  been  inseparably 
joined  by  divine  ordinance. 

When  Elizabeth  came  to  the  throne  this  idea  had  to  be 
remodeled  and  the  thirty-seventh  article  of  religion  was  ac- 


I4  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

cording! y  framed.  It  declares  that  the  ministering  of  God's 
word  does  not  belong  to  princes,  though  Cranmer  had  pre- 
viously declared  that  God  had  committed  to  Christian  princes 
the  whole  care  of  all  their  subjects,  as  well  concerning  the  ad- 
ministration of  God's  word  for  the  cure  of  souls  as  concerning 
the  administration  of  things  political.  In  a  foot  note  to  page 
62  Macaulay  says  "these  are  Cranmer 's  own  words." 

This  exception  to  the  rule  of  disbelief  in  the  miraculous, 
was  a  political  necessity,  just  as  was  its  modification.  It  very 
naturally  recalls  what  was  said  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  opinion 
about  hell.  When  asked,  after  hearing  some  stories  of  atroci- 
ties to  Union  soldiers  in  Confederate  prisons,  if  he  did  not  be- 
lieve in  hell,  he  is  reported  to  have  answered:  "It  may  be  a 
military  necessity." 

Protestantism  in  England  in  its  early  history  was  not 
favorable  for  the  growth  of  miracles.  It  presented  no  encour- 
agement of  either  climate  or  soil.  So  far  was  it  from  approv- 
ing efforts  at  that  part  of  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  that  early  in 
the  eighteenth  century  it  expelled  certain  of  its  ministers  who 
believed  in  healing  the  sick,  as  will  be  seen  elsewhere.  It  also 
caused  the  expulsion  from  England  of  certain  French  Protest- 
ant exiles  who  believed  their  leaders  to  be  able  to  even  raise 
the  dead.  A  remnant  of  the  sect  thus  expelled  still  exists  in  the 
United  States,  mostly  in  Pennsylvania,  and  its  members  are 
known  as  Schwenkfeldians.  Other  isolated  remnants  are  oc- 
casionally met  in  other  states  and  in  Europe. 

It  did  not  extinguish  all  belief  in-  miracle  working,  however. 
Conyers  Middleton,  D.  D.,  who  distinguished  himself  in  the 


EPISCOPAL  MIRACLES.  I  ^ 

first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  as  a  writer  on  religious  and 
political  subjects  did  not  agree  with  the  church  of  which  he 
was  a  minister.  In  Leslie  Stephen's  "English  Thought  in  the 
Eighteenth  Century"  Middleton  is  noticed  quite  extensively. 
Stephen  says  Middleton  asked  by  insinuation  if  St.  Augustine 
is  discredited  concerning  miracles,  why  should  Moses  or 
Matthew  be  believed,  and  if  Augustine  is  believed  why  not  also 
accounts  of  modern  miracles. 

In  recent  years  Canon  Farrar,  one  of  the  most  prominent 
prelates  of  the  Church  of  England,  takes  both  sides  of  the 
subject.  In  his  "Lives  of  the  Fathers"  he  speaks  incredulously 
of  the  miracles  ascribed  to  Gregory,  who  is  classed  as  a  saint 
by  Catholics.  He  says  Gregory  had  a  weakness  for  collecting 
the  bones  of  martyrs,  but  he  also  mentions,  without  question, 
miraculous  cures  attributed  to  those  relics.  He  also  tells  of 
St.  Augustine  unconsciously  healing  Paulus  and  Palladia.  The 
beneficiaries  in  this  case  were  a  young  man  and  his  sister,  who, 
while  seeking  aid  from  the  saint,  fainted  in  his  church.  When 
they  recovered  consciousness,  the  infirmities  of  which  they 
came  to  be  healed  had  disappeared. 

These  are.  of  course,  Catholic  miracles  but  not  "Popish," 
as  they  occurred  at  a  time  when  there  was  no  objection  to 
popery.  They  are  principally  significant  because  they  are  men- 
tioned by  so  high  a  church  dignitary  and  authority  as  Canon 
Farrar,  after  his  predecessors  had  so  generally,  and  almost 
unanimously,  treated  Augustine  as  a  deluder  in  the  matter  of 
his  marvelous  stories.  Indeed,  they  quote  him  to  the  effect 
that  no  miracles  wore  performed  in  his  day,  as  if  to  prove  him 


i6 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 


a  liar  on  his  own  testimony. 

The  only  miracle  Farrar  attributes  directly  to  Augustine  is 
quoted  from  the  saint's  biographer,  Possidius.  It  is  the  healing 
of  an  unnamed  sick  man.  On  this  Farrar  comments: 

It  must  be  classed  with  similar  incidents  and  simi- 
lar testimonies  in  all  ages,  even  down  to  our  own. 
Further  on  he  says  such  miracles  stand  on  a  level  with  the 
miracles  wrought  at  the  exhibitions  of  the  Holy  Coat  of  Treves, 
in  Prussia.    This  Holy  Coat  is  alleged  to  be  that  for  which  the 
Roman  soldiers  cast  lots  at  the  crucifixion,  a  mere  sight  of 
which  cures  all  manner  of  ills,  but  it  is  a  Catholic  relic  and 
the  miracles  are  like  unto  it. 

Butler  (Catholic),  in  his  "Lives  of  the  Saints,"  quotes  Dr. 
Cave,  whom  he  describes  a.s  an  eminent  Protestant  authority, 
in  support  of  the  miracles  of  St.  Ambrose,  as  being  well  authen- 
ticated by  evidence. 

Among  those  clergymen  of  the  English  church  who  did  not 
adopt  the  views  of  the  majority  on  the  subject  was  William 
Stephen  Gilly  M.  A.,  etc,  prebendary  of  Durham.  In  a  volume 
published  in  London  in  1827  he  quotes  approvingly  from 
Boyer's  history  of  the  Vaudois  of  the  miraculous  escape  of 
those  whom  the  Presbyterians  claim  as  of  their  fold.  The  story 
is  told  elsewhere  under  the  head  of  "Presbyterian  Ideas." 

If  it  were  allowable  to  quote  from  books  evidently  pub- 
lished for  Sunday  school  libraries,  this  chapter  might  be  greatly 
enlarged,  but  I  prefer  to  cite,  with  few  exceptions,  the  cases 
that  seem  to  be  well  authenticated  by  well  known  writers  or 
clergymen  of  the  church. 


PRESBYTERIAN  IDEAS. 

LATTER  DAY  MIRACLES  VIEWED  WITH  DISFAVOR  BY 
CALVIN'S  DISCIPLES. 

Presbyterians  furnish  fewer  evidences  of  a  belief  in  the 
miraculous  than  most  other  sectarians.  The  spirit  of  the  early 
Presbyterians  which  impelled  rather  than  persuaded  them  to 
oppose  everything  that  smacked  of  "popery"  made  them  studi- 
ously avoid  noticing  events  that  seemed  supernatural.  Their 
records  are  not  wholly  destitute  of  such  evidence,  however 

"Presbyterians"  is  the  title  of  a  work  by  Rev.  George  P. 
Hays,  D.  D.  LL.D.  It  is  a  concise  history  of  the  origin  and 
career  of  the  churches  of  that  denomination,  with  introductions 
by  Rev.  John  Hall,  D.  D.  LL.D.,  and  Rev.  William  E.  Moore, 
D.  D.  LL.D.  Dr.  Hays  includes  among  Presbyterians  the  Wal- 
denses  of  the  continent  of  Europe,  but  he  does  not  go  so  far 
as  do  thir  own  historians  in  ascribing  their  preservation  to 
direct  interposition  of  Providence.  On  page  40  of  his  work  he 
says  the  Reformation  and  revival  of  religion  were  the  results 
of  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  of  God  upon  the  church  at  large 
at  a  time  when  providences  were  fully  ripe.  On  page  143  the 
historian,  speaking  of  the  "spiritual  darkness"  in  which  the 
eighteenth  century  closed,  the  loss  of  Harvard  College  to  or- 
thodox Congregationalists  and  the  revival  of  A.  D.  1800,  says: 

The  problem  of  the  time  was  to  find  some  perma- 


xg  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

nent  system  for  reaching  the  whole  country  with  the 
few  available  men  on  hand.  God  raised  up  choice  men 
like  Nettleton  in  Connecticut,  Griffin  in  Boston,  Finney 
in  Ohio,  etc.  *  *  *  *  They  were  specially  endowed 
with  power  from  on  high. 

ORIGIN  OF  CAMP  MEETINGS. 

Dr.  Hays  tells  how  camp  meetings  originated  with  those 
Presbyterians  who  afterwards  formed  the  Cumberland  sect  of 
that  denomination,  but  he  touches  very  lightly  upon  the  "bodily 
exercises"  of  which  Elders  Jacob  Knapp  and  Peter  Cartwright 
said  so  much.  He  shows  that  it  was  the  resort  to  revival 
methods  that  evolved  the  camp  meeting,  and  what  others  call 
"the  jerks"  are  very  tamely  described  by  him. 

In  a  chapter  written  by  two  ministers  of  the  Cumberland 
church,  J.  M.  Howard  and  J.  M.  Hubbert,  they  say  that  when 
the  proposition  was  made  to  Samuel  McAdow  for  the  revival- 
istic  Presbyterians  to  secede  and  set  up  an  independent  synod, 
early  in  the  nineteenth  century,  that  pious  man  spent  the  whole 
night  in  prayer  and  in  the  morning  announced  that  he  had  re- 
ceived sufficient  light  to  justify  him  in  joining  the  new  move- 
ment. Thus  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  church  is  in  some 
measure,  at  least,  dependent  on  an  answer  to  man's  prayers  for 
its  origin,  although  disbelief  in  the  doctrines  of  predestination, 
and  especially  that  part  of  it  that  taught  infant  damnation, 
was  a  powerful  factor. 

That  this  sect  believe  in  direct  communication  of  God  to 
man,  akin  to  inspiration,  is  evident  in  the  way  they  defended 
the  licensing  to  preach  of  men  who  had  not  been  thoroughly 


PRESBYTERIAN  IDEAS.  Xg 

educated.  In  the  chapter  devoted  to  the  Cumberland  church 
its  authors  say:  "They  believe  that  some  who  become  religious 
late  in  life  are  called  to  preach  the  Gospel  and  that  the  strict 
Presbyterian  rule  would  prevent  these  from  obeying  God's 
call." 

Calvinism,  as  taught  by  the  "regular"  or  original  Presby- 
terians, deals  with  the  miraculous  in  its  origin.  It  teaches  the 
doctrine  of  man's  total  depravity  and  that  to  be  saved  he  must 
be  born  again.  The  miraculous  feature  of  this  teaching  is 
found  in  the  dogma  that  the  new  birth  is  not  subject  to  man's 
will,  but  is  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  As  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
omnipotent  and  omniscient.  He  must  have  known  from  all 
eternity  what  He  should  do  in  all  eternity  to  come.  He  must 
have  known  to  whom  He  should  give  this  new  birth  and  herein 
is  the  dogma  of  election  or  predestination. 

Another  evidence  of  Presbyterian  belief  in  divine  inter- 
position is  given  on  page  93  of  "Presbyterians,"  where  the  his- 
torian tells  of  the  revivalists  of  1740-41  entering  churches  to 
preach,  against  the  objections  of  the  pastors,  on  the  ground 
that  they  had  "the  right  to  follow  out  what  they  called  divine 
leading,  even  though  nobody  but  themselves  were  able  to  un- 
derstand the  supposed  providential  indications." 

The  same  historian  quotes  from  a  letter  of  Cotton  Mather, 
of  the  year  1718.  thus: 

We  are  comforted  with  great  numbers  of  the  op- 
pressed brethren  coming  from  the  north  of  Ireland. 
The  glorious  Providence  of  God  in  the  removal  hither 
of  so  many  of  a  desirable  class  hath  doubtless  very 
great  intentions  in  it. 


2O  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

Though    Mather    was   not   a   Presbyterian,    the    people    of 
whom  he  wrote  were  of  that  persuasion  and  the  quotation  of 
his  words  in  the  history  may  be  regarded  as  a  Presbyterian 
endorsement  of  special  providences,  alias  miracles. 
VAUDOIS  MIRACLES. 

A  history  of  the  Vaudois,  or  Waldenses,  who  are  claimed 
as  Presbyterians,  by  Antoine  Monastier,  one  of  their  pastors, 
was  translated  by  J.  M.  McClintock,  who,  in  a  preface  to  the 
American  edition,  wrote:  "The  Vaudois  have  been  preserved 
from  age  to  age  amid  the  Alpine  fastnesses  and  valleys  of  Pied- 
mont— a  perpetual  testimony,  at  once  to  r.he  providence  of  God 
and  the  persecuting  cruelty  of  that  ecclesiastical  power  which 
for  centuries  has  'exalted  itself  against  God.'  "  Monastier,  in 
describing  a  battle  of  the  Vaudois  against  the  papal  troops 
sent  to  exterminate  them  in  1488,  says  the  Vaudois  prepared 
for  the  conflict  by  prayer.  Their  enemies,  seeing  them  pros- 
trate, ridiculed  them,  ''being  full  of  confidence  in  their  own 
numbers,  equipments  and  valor."  The  papist  leader,  LeNoir, 
is  described  as  "another  Goliath  defying  Israel,  boasted  with 
horrible  blasphemies  of  the  carnage  he  would  make  among  the 
heretical  herdsmen."  Having  incautiously  raised  his  visor  on 
account  of  the  heat,  a  Vaudois  arrow  pierced  his  head  and 
killed  him.  The  historian  thus  attributes  the  result  of  the  con- 
sequent flight  of  the  papists:  "But  the  Divine  mercy  secured 
the  victory  to  the  smaller  number;  God  hearkened  to  those 
who  relied  on  him." 

Further  along  in  the  same  chapter  the  historian  describes 
the  invaders  trying  to  reach  those  of  the  Vaudois  who  had  fled 


PRESBYTERIAN  IDEAS.  2I 

to  an  almost  inaccessible  spot,  the  Pra-di-torre.  When  they 
reached  a  narrow  gorge  they  were  suddenly  enveloped  in  a  fog 
so  thick  they  dared  not  advance  because  they  "could  not  distin- 
guish a  single  object,"  and  he  continues: 

The  Angrognines,  emboldened  by  this  interposition 
of  Providence  in  their  favor,  issued  forth  from  their 
retreats,  vigorously  attacked  their  perplexed  aggres- 
sors, whom  they  defeated,  put  to  flight  and  pursued. 

Monastier,  on  page  136  of  his  work,  describes  the  Reforma- 
tion as  a  miracle  of  mercy  which  "God  was  pleased  to  effect  in 
many  places,"  by  raising  up  Luther,  Zwingli  and  others  as  a 
result  of  the  ''direct  intervention  of  Divine  Providence."  The 
work  having  been  translated  for  the  London  Religious  Tract 
Society,  before  the  middle  of  the  present  century,  naturally 
becomes  an  orthodox  Protestant  document  by  adoption,  with 
all  its  belief  in  fifteenth  century  miracles. 

As  to  the  reality  of  Vaudois  miracles,  William  Stephen 
Gilly,  prebendary  of  Durham,  who  is  referred  to  among  Episco- 
pal authorities,  quotes  approvingly  from  Boyer's  history  of  that 
people  of  the  miraculous  escape  of  800  or  900  of  those  Protest- 
ants from  the  country  into  which  French  and  Sardinian  op- 
pression had  driven  them.  Boyer  says  the  country  was  guarded 
by  3000  hostile  Catholic  troops,  which  greatly  increased  the 
natural  difficulties  of  the  mountainous  region.  These  Vaudois 
had  been  granted  amnesty  by  the  Duke  of  Sardinia,  who  also 
gave  them  liberty  to  settle  in  his  dominions,  and  their  victories 
over  the  hostile  legions  Boyer  says  formed  a  miraculous  pre- 


22  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

servation  of  these  Protestants  from  Catholic  hostility.  He 
further  says  of  the  change  of  heart  of  the  Duke  of  Sardinia, 
that  "God  sent  a  spirit  of  division  between  the  King  of  France 
and  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  insomuch  that  they  strove  who  should 
first  gain  the  Vaudois  to  their  party."  (Boyer's  Vaudois,  page 
226.) 

This  movement  against  the  Vaudois  began  in  1686  and  the 
divine  interposition  in  their  behalf  was  in  1690.    This  was  near- 
ly fourteen  centuries  after  the  time  at  which  orthodox  Protest- 
ants of  to-day  assert  that  the  age  of  miracles  ended. 
A  PRECOCIOUS  PROPHET. 

Rev.  Dr.  Alexander  Carlyle  tells  in  his  autobiography  how 
opposition  to  his  appointment  as  minister  at  Inveresk,  Scot- 
land, was  overcome.  The  position  was  in  the  gift  of  a  certain 
nobleman  who  had  promised  it  to  him.  The  people  wanted  an 
older  man,  as  Mr.  Carlyle  was  not  24  when  he  was  appointed, 
and  were  preparing  to  make  his  position  uncomfortable. 

The  opponents  were  in  the  habit  of  frequenting  a  shop 
kept  by  a  woman  who  had  known  Carlyle  from  infancy.  When 
they  spoke  to  her  of  an  older  man  she  told  them  they  might  as 
well  be  reconciled  for  Carlyle  had  been  foreordained  to  the 
place — she  heard  him  prophesy  it  when  he  was  but  6  years  old. 
The  opponents  were  terrified  at  the  idea  of  setting  up  opposi- 
tion to  a  "meenister"  sent  by  God,  and  especially  one  who  had 
been  foreordained  to  the  place.  The  result  was  that  he  went 
there,  won  their  love  and  remained  fifty  years. 

This  prophesy  was  simply  an  "auld  wife's  tale,"  but  it 
illustrates  the  belief  of  the  Scottish  Presbyterian  in  the  mira- 


PRESBYTERIAN  IDEAS.  ~  - 

^3 

culous.  Carlyle  says  the  foundation  for  it  was  the  old  woman's 
fondness  for  him  in  his  childhood.  After  caressing  him  as  he 
stood  on  a  stairhead  at  her  shop,  she  expressed  the  hope  that 
he  should  succeed  his  father,  who  was  the  minister  of  her  town. 
The  child,  thinking  she  expected  his  father  to  die  soon, 
said:  "No,  I'll  ne'er  be  minister  here.  Yonder  is  my  church," 
and  he  pointed  to  the  spire  of  Inveresk,  which  is  not  far  dis- 
tant from  his  native  home.  This  the  old  woman  considered 
prophesy  that  the  child  was  foreordained  for  Inveresk  and  the 
people  of  that  parish  accepted  her  interpretation  and  dared 
not  "quarrel  with  God's  appointed." 


ARGYLL'S  IDEAS. 


A   PRESBYTERIAN    DUKE'S   DEFENSE    OF    THE    BELIEF 
IN  THE  MIRACULOUS. 

The  Duke  of  Argyll,  father  of  the  present  Marquis  of 
Lome,,  who  is  a  son-in-law  of  Queen  Victoria,  published  in 
1866  a  volume  containing  a  series  of  papers  in  support  of  the 
belief  in  miracles.  These  papers  were  originally  published  in 
various  British  periodicals  but  were  enlarged  and  corrected  as 
criticisms  of  and  answers  to  them  appeared  from  representa- 
tives of  the  various  schools  of  skepticism  and  materialistic 
philosophy. 

The  Duke  distinguished  himself  before  he  attained  his 
majority  as  a  defender  of  Scotch  Presbyterianism  and  hence 
his  work  on  miracles  must  be  regarded  as  the  expression  of 
an  orthodox  opinion.  His  book  is  entitled  "The  Reign  of  Law," 
and  so  popular  does  it  appear  to  have  been  that  several  editions 
have  been  published  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  The  first 
chapter  is  devoted  to  the  supernatural.  In  it  he  says  that 
miracles  are  really  events  brought  about  by  the  operation  of 
law  and  he  argues  very  closely  to  show  the  reasonableness  of 
this  view.  He  says,  page  13: 

Advancing  knowledge   of  physical  laws   has   been 

accompanied   by   advancing   power   over   the   physical 

world.    It  has  enabled  us  to  do  a  thousand  things,  any 


ry 

ARGYLL'S  IDEAS.  2c 

one  of  which,  a  few  generations  ago,  would  have  been 
considered  supernatural. 

In  this  connection  he  mentions  a  lecturer  on  the  subject 
of  heat,  who  exhibited  many  wonderful  things,  among  them 
ice  frozen  in  contact  with  red-hot  crucibles.  Upon  this  he  re- 
marks: 

If  the  progress  of  discovery  is  as  rapid  for  the 
next  400  years  as  it  has  been  during  the  last  period 
of  the  same  extent,  men  will  be  able  to  do  many  things 
which  would  now  appear  to  be  supernatural. 

*  *     * 

No  man  can  have  any  difficulty  in  believing  that 
there  are  natural  laws  of  which  he  is  ignorant;  nor  in 
conceiving  that  there  may  be  beings  who  do  know  them, 
and  can  use  them  even  as  he  himself  now  uses  the  few 
laws  with  which  he  is  acquainted. 

*  *    * 

The  relation  in  which  God  stands  to  those  rules  of 

His  government  which  are  called  "laws"  is,  of  course, 

an  inscrutable  mystery  to  us. 

The  Duke  in  the  course  of  his  definition  of  terms  prepara- 
tory to  entering  upon  his  arguments  quotes  approvingly  from 
Dr.  Horace  Bushnell.  whose  work  is  noticed  elsewhere: 

That  is  supernatural,  whatever  it  be,  that  is  either 

not  in  the  chain  of  natural  cause  and  effect,  or  which 

acts  on  the  chain  of  cause  and  effect  in  nature,  from 

without  the  chain. 

After  arguing  that  the  spread  of  Christianity  and  the  pre- 


26  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

servation  of  the  Jews  as  a  distinct  people  are  the  results  of 
Divine  interposition,  i.  e.,  miracles,  he  moralizes  on  the  belief 

in  miracles  being  essential  to  religion,  and  says: 
* 

Once  admit  that  there  is  a  Being  who1 — irrespective 

of  any  theory  as  to  the  relation  in  which  the  laws  of 
Nature  stand  to  His  will — has  at  least  an  infinite 
knowledge  of  those  laws  and  an  infinite  power  of  put- 
ting them  to  use — then  miracles  lose  every  element  of 
inconceivability.  In  respect  to  the  greatest  and  highest 
of  all — that  restoration  of  the  breath  of  life  which  is 
not  more  mysterious  than  its  original  gift — there  is  no 
answer  to  the  question  which  Paul  asks:  "Why  should 
it  be  thought  a  thing  incredible  by  you  that  God  should 
raise  the  dead?"  • 

Were  I  to  quote  further  from  Argyll  or  from  those  divines 
whose  writings  he  quotes  in  support  of  his  position,  much  mat- 
ter that  has  already  been  written- would  be  repeated  and  this 
work  be  made  unnecessarily  long.  I  therefore  simply  mention 
the  names  of  a  few  as  James  McCosh,  LL.D. ;  Rev  J.  McLeod 
Campbell;  John  Tulloch,  D.  D.,  principal  of  St.  Mary's  College, 
St.  Andrews,  Edinburgh.  As  the  work  contains  no  direct  refer- 
ence to  recent  miracles,  but  mentions  approvingly  Dr.  Bush- 
nell's  work  on  that  subject,  it  is  fair  to  construe  its  arguments 
as  applying  to  miracles  of  all  times.  This  construction  seems 
warranted  also  by  a  line  in  the  preface  to  the  fifth  edition,  viz: 
"The  argument  it  maintains  is  at  variance  with  the  philosophy 
of  some  of  the  most  active  and  popular  thinkers  of  the  time; 
and  on  a  few  important  points  it  deviates  from  the  view  com- 


ARGYLL'S  IDEAS.  2y 

monly  adopted  by  men  with  whom  I  am  more  generally 
agreed."  In  two  copious  notes  appended  to  the  volume  he  an- 
swers two  of  his  critics,  Dr.  Ward,  editor  of  the  Dublin  Review, 
and  Rev.  J.  P.  Mahaffy,  but  in  neither  is  the  critic  shown  to 
have  disputed  the  arguments  supporting  belief  in  miracles.  In 
a  note  appended  to  page  19  he  quotes  Rev.  J.  M.  Campbell  in 
support  of  his  theory  that  miracles  are  in  accordance  with 
law  over  which  God,  the  infinite  author,  has  infinite  control, 
though  these  laws  and  their  operation  transcend  our  knowl- 
edge. 

One  who  cares  to  go  into  minute  details  of  the  study  of 
natural  laws  and  trace  their  wide  ramifications  will  find  "The 
Reign  of  Law"  a  most  interesting  volume  aside  from  its  chap- 
ter on  the  supernatural. 

His  grace  quotes  the  philosopher  Locke  to  the  effect  that 
we  can  never  know  what  is  above  nature  unless  we  know  all 
that  is  within  nature,  and  on  this  he  comments: 

In  this  passage  Locke  *  *  *  *  misses  another 
truth,  quite  as  important — that  a  miracle  would  still  be 
a  miracle  even  though  we  did  know  the  laws  through 
which  it  was  accomplished,  provided  those  laws, 
though  not  beyond  human  knowledge,  were  beyond 
human  control.  We  might  know  the  conditions  neces- 
sary to  the  performance  of  a  miracle  although  utterly 
unable  to  bring  those  conditions  about.  Yet  a  work 
performed  by  the  bringing  abou,t  of  conditions  which 
are  out  of  human  reach  would  certainly  be  a  work  at- 
testing superhuman  power. 


PURITANS  AND  MIRACLES. 


EVIDENCE   OF  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS'   BELIEF  THAT 
GOD  INTERVENED  IN  THEIR  BEHALF. 

Though  a  majority,  perhaps,  of  those  who  claim  direct 
religious  descent  from  the  Plymouth  pilgrims  are  the  most 
active  in  sowing  disbelief  in  miracles,  the  history  of  the  Pilgrim 
settlement  in  Massachusetts  contains  many  acknowledgments 
of  such  belief.  In  1867  a  history  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  was 
published  by  the  American  Tract  Society.  The  author  was  W. 
Carlos  Martyn,  who  also  wrote  a  history  of  the  English  Puri- 
tans. In  giving  an  account  of  the  rise  of  Puritanism  in  Eng- 
land Martyn  attributes  it  to  zeal  with  which  the  Lord  touched 
the  hearts ,  of  a  number  of  yeomen  in  the  North  of  England. 
When  describing  the  voyage  to  Holland,  in  1608,  the  historian 
quotes  Young,  a  former  historian,  to  the  effect  that  when  the 
ship  was  driven  by  storms  to  the  coast  of  Norway  and  was 
about  to  be  wrecked,  God  rescued  them.  Young  was  on  board 
the  ship  and  his  words  are  thus  given: 

But  when  man's  hope  and  help  wholly  failed,  the 
Lord's  power  and  mercy  appeared  for  their  recovery, 
for  the  ship  rose  again  and  gave  the  mariners  courage 
once  more  to  manage  her.  While  the  waters  ran  into 
their  very  ears  and  mouths  and  all  cried,  "We  sink,  we 
sink,"  they  also  said,  if  not  miraculous,  yet  with  great 


PURITANS  AND  MIRACLES.  2Q 

height  of  Divine  faith,  "Yet,  Lord,  thou  canst  save." 
And  He  who  holds  the  winds  in  His  fist  and  the  waters 
in  the  hollow  of  His  hand  did  hear  and  save  them. 
Then  when  the  religious  adventurers  wearied  of  Holland 
and  decided  to  try  the  wilds  of  America,  Martyn  says  they 
"announced  their  intention"  to  follow  Columbus,  and  launch 
boldly  across  the  Atlantic,  "trusting  in  God."  Having  come  to 
this  decision  they,  "after  humble  prayers  unto  God  for  his 
direction  and  assistance,"  held  another  conference  as  to  what 
part  of  America  they  should  decide  upon.  As  they  were  not  in 
favor  with  the  government  and  had  no  hope  of  obtaining  a 
charter  for  land,  they  determined  in  this,  as  in  other  things, 
to  rest  on  God's  providence,  but  they  also  rested  somewhat  in 
London  merchants,  who  formed  a  company,  got  a  charter  and 
became  partners  with  the  Pilgrims.  The  terms  were  hard 
upon  the  adventurers,  but  they  accepted  them  and  "had  a  sol- 
emn meeting  and  a  day  of  humiliation  to  seek  the  Lord  for  his 
direction." 

Martyn  closes  ChapterVI  of  his  work  with  a  reflection  on 
the  singular  combination  of  circumstances  which  produced  the 
Plymouth  settlement,  and  says: 

God  builded  better  than  men  knew  and,  when  the 
time  was  ripe,  He  chose  the  Pilgrims,  Englishmen, 
Protestants,  exiles  for  religion,  men  disciplined  by  mis- 
fortune, cultivated  by  opportunities  of  extensive  obser- 
vation, equal  in  rank  as  in  rights,  bound  by  no  code  but 
that  of  religion  and  the  public  will,  and  with  these  ele- 
ments He  planted  a  model  state  and  bade  it  grow  into 


30  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

a  democracy,  Christian  commonwealth,  that  it  might 

be,  at  once,  an  exemplar  and  a  benefactor  to  mankind. 

These  extracts  are  sufficient  to  show  that  the  Pilgrim 
fathers  in  the  seventeenth  century  and  the  American  Tract 
Society  in  1867  believed  in  miraculous  intervention  by  God  in 
the  affairs  of  mankind.  But  the  Puritans  also  believed  that 
God  intervened  in  their  behalf  to  save  them  from  starvation, 
from  the  treachery  of  the  Indians  and  from  the  consequences 
of  the  folly  and  vice  of  irreligious  settlers.  On  page  198,  after 
moralizing  on  the  futility  of  the  communal  experiment  of  the 
first  two  years  and  its  abandonment,  Bradford,  one  of  the 
historians  of  the  colony,  is  quoted  thus: 

Let  none  object  that  this  is  man's  corruption  and 

nothing  to  the  philosophy   (socialistic)   per  se.     Yes; 

but  since  all  men  have  this  corruption  in  them,  God,  in 

His  wisdom,  saw  another  course  fitter  for  them. 

When  the  colonists  finished  planting  the  second  year  all 
their  food  had  been  consumed,  "and  they  rested  on  God's  provi- 
dence alone."  Wherefore  Bradford  says,  "they  above  all  peo- 
pie  in  the  world  had  occasion  to  pray  to  God  to  give  them,  their 
daily  bread."  After  detailing  how.  a  scanty  supply  of  food  was 
procured  the  history  shows  that  just  as  the  colonists  were  ex- 
pecting a  bounteous  corn  crop  a  drouth  came  and  famine 
threatened. 

In  this   emergency,  the  devout  Pilgrims  resorted 

to  the  "mercy  seat  and  besought  Him  who  had  so  often 

appeared  to  succor  them  to  aid  them  now.    A  special 

day  of  fasting  and  prayer  was  appointed." 


PURITANS  AND  MIRACLES.  ~I 

It  has  been  well  said  that  answers  to  prayer  do  not 
generally  come  with  observation.  They  are  often  sent 
in  a  way  which  is  hid  from  most  persons  and  frequent- 
ly even  from  those  who  receive  them.  There  are,  how- 
ever, instances  in  which  these  answers  are  so  striking 
as  to  be  visible  to  all. 

Thus  writes  Martyn,  the  modern  historian  of  the  American 
Tract  Society,  and  he  follows  it  up  by  saying  that  the  fast  day 
opened  with  a  cloudless  sky,  but  he  quotes  Winslow,  another 
writer  from  observation,  to  show  that  at  the  close  of  the  ser- 
vices the  sky  was  overcast  and  a  soft  rain  that  began  next  day 
continued  fourteen  days.  On  this  Winslow  remarks: 

It  was  hard  to  say  whether  our  withered  corn  or 
our  drooping  affections  were  most  quickened  and  re- 
vived, such  was  the  bounty  and  goodness  of  our  God. 
God  again  intervened  to  defeat  a  conspirator  against  the 
prosperity  of  the  Puritans.     One  of  the  merchant  adventurers 
by  trickery  gained  a  charter  or  patent  that  included  all  their 
lands  and  much  more,  all  in  his  own  name.    He  set  out  with  a 
large  ship  for  those  days  but  was  twice  driven  back  by  storms 
or  defects  in  his  vessel  and  he  "was  by  this  time  grown  so  sick 
of  his  patent  that  he  vomited  it  up." 

I  have  here  only  quoted  from  or  referred  to  half  of  Mar- 
tyn's  history  and  have  not  sought  to  amplify  the  evidence  of 
Puritan  belief  in  special  providence  or  miracles.  I  used  Mar- 
tyn's  work  because  it  was  the  most  compendious  and  because 
it  bore  the  orthodox  endorsement  I  have  mentioned. 

Not  only  did  these  godly  men  believe  that  they  were  mira- 


3  2  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

culously  saved  from  death  by  wreck,  famine  and  savage  war- 
fare and  from  the  machinations  of  civilized  enemies,  but  that 
the  Lord  had  depopulated  the  region  to  which  He  guided  them. 
Hutchinson's  history  says  (Vol.  I,  page  38): 

Our  ancestors  supposed  an  immediate  interposition 
of  Providence  in  the  great  mortality    among   the    In- 
dians, to  make  room  for  the  settlement  of  the  English. 
Palfry,  in  his  history  published  in  1892,  in  a  note  on  page 
177  of  Vol.  I,  comments  on  this  remark  of  Hutchinson: 

He  who  understands  that  there  is  a  divine  govern- 
ment of  human  affairs,  and  who  recalls  what  has  fol- 
lowed upon  the  occupation  of  this  region  by  civilized 
men,  may  well  hesitate  to  pronounce  that  they  erred  in 
that  belief. 

Those  who  want  further  evidence  that  Congregationalists 
did  not  always  discredit  miracles  should,  beside  reading  the 
sketch  of  the  first  Puritan  settlement  in  New  England,  read  the 
biographies  of  Increase  Mather,  first  president  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege, and  his  still  more  widely  noted  son,  Cotton  Mather.  They 
believed  in  other  miracles  than  those  for  evil  and  by  the  power 
of  the  devil.  They  believed  themselves  to  be  God-guided  and 
inspired,  at  least  to  some  extent.  That  the  record  Cotton 
Mather  made  is  disgraceful  alike  to  the  church  of  which  he  was 
a  minister  and  to  Christianity  in  no  wise  militates  against  the 
fact  that  he  represented  Congregationalist  thought  in  New 
England  in  the  day  in  which  he  lived.  And  that  thought  was, 
v.hen  interpreted  by  the  acts  of  its  exponents,  that  the  devil 
was  a  great  power;  that  God's  power  could  not  be  relied  on  to 


PURITANS  AND  MIRACLES.  ~  ~ 

counteract  it;  that  man  had  to  oppose  his  own  power  to  it  and 
stamp  it  out  by  murder  and  cruelties  beside  which  sudden  mur- 
der was  mercy.  The  only  logical  deduction  is  that  the  followers 
ot  Mather  thought  the  devil  more  powerful  than  God  and  them- 
selves more  powerful  than  the  devil. 

If  belief  in  miracles  and  belief  in  witchcraft  are  both  be- 
lief in  the  supernatural,  then  those  who  planted  the  Congrega- 
tional church  on  American  soil  believed  in  the  interposition  of 
supernatural  power  for  evil  if  they  did  not  believe  in  it  for 
good.  For  the  purposes  of  this  work  this  reference  is  sufficient 
for  this  chapter. 

On  the  subject  of  belief  in  miracles  and  treating  witchcraft 
as  miraculous,  Lecky  says  in  "Rationalism  in  Europe"  that 
Protestantism  "from  the  beginning  looked  upon  modern  mira- 
cles (except  those  which  were  comprised  under  the  head  of 
witchcraft)  with  an  aversion  and  distrust  that  contrasts  re- 
markably with  the  unhesitating  credulity  of  its  opponents." 
Lecky  cites  a  number  of  cases  that  form  striking  exceptions 
to  the  rule  of  doubt  which  gradually  extended  from  modern 
miracles  to  those  of  the  fathers,  after  Constantine's  conver- 
sion. The  wave  of  doubt  having  been  set  in  motion  the  theolo- 
gians found  themselves  unable  to  arrest  it.  Indeed,  they 
seemed  to  fear  that  they  would  be  overwhelmed  by  it,  and 
Lecky  says  Christianity  became  an  attenuated  system  of  moral 
philosophy,  an  admirable  auxiliary  to  the  police  force. 


STARTLING    MIRACLES. 

AN    EMINENT    CONGREGATIONALIST    DIVINE'S    WORK 
ON  DIVINE  HEALING. 

Among  the  most  eminent  and  respectable  of  modern  theo- 
logians who  have  written  on  the  subject  of  miracles  is  Horace 
Bushnell.  In  his  work,  "Natural  and  Supernatural,"  a  work  of 
372  pages,  he  refers  to  numerous  cases  of  marvelous  cures  as 
late  as  the  present  century  and  some  of  them  in  America. 
Those  of  ealier  day  were  performed  among  the  Huguenots  who 
fled  to  England;  among  the  Jansenists  in  Paris;  at  St.  Medard, 
in  France  and  by  George  Fox,  the  originator  of  the  Quaker  sect, 
but  Bushnell,  in  Fox's  cases,  omits  the  dates  and  other  par- 
ticulars, as  if  these  were  too  well  known  to  call  for  further  de- 
tails than  that  they  were  performed  in  Maryland. 

The  most  marvelous  thing  he  relates  is  a  story  of  Arthur 
Howell,  a  Quaker  leather  currier,  who  worked  in  Philadelphia, 
and  who  relieved  the  memory  of  a  deceased  woman  from  the 
suspicion  of  a  horrible  crime,  though  he  had  never  known  the 
woman  in  life.  Her  innocence  was  revealed  to  him  as  her 
funeral  was  passing  him  on  the  street  and  he  stopped  the  pro- 
cession to  proclaim  what  was  afterwards  abundantly  proved. 
This  story  is  not  dated,  but  it  appears  on  page  325  of  "Natural 
and  Supernatural." 

Bushnell  takes  the  Christian  Observer  to  task  for  discredit- 


STARTLING  MIRACLES.  ,-  ,- 

ing  miracles  and  says  it  takes  substantially  the  same  ground 
as  the  atheistic  Hume,  viz:     "We  must  admit  of  any  solution 
rather  than  a  miracle."    Upon  this  Dr.  Bushnell  comments: 
Little  wonder  it  is  that  we  have  difficulty  in  sus- 
taining the  historic  facts  of  Christianity  when  the  most 
Christian,  the  most  evangelical    teachers,    assume    so 
readily  the  utter  incredibility  of  any  such  gifts  and 
wonders  as  the  gospels  report  and  as  they,  themselves, 
have  it  for  a  righteousness  to  believe. 

This  is  quoted  from  page  329  and  from  that  to  the  346th 
page  he  relates  several  cases  of  what  he  terms  miraculous  cures 
and  solutions  of  grave  difficulties,  such  as  one  hears  at  experi- 
ence meetings  in  Christian  Scientist  churches  on  Wednesday 
evenings.  Bushnell  would  not  sneer  at  these  relations  as  do 
many  if  not  most  orthodox  clergymen  of  to-day,  though  he  was 
a  D.  D.  of  the  Wesleyan  University  and  an  LL.D.  of  Harvard. 
It  is  true  that  he  was  accused  of  heresy  in  writing  his  "God  in 
Christ,"  but  he  was  acquitted  by  the  association  of  Congrega- 
tionalist  ministers  who  tried  him.  He  wrote  his  "Natural  and 
Supernatural"  before  "Science  and  Health"  was  even  outlined 
and  it  was  published  in  1858. 

In  the  face  of  these  learned  men,  who  support  their  opin- 
ions by  excellent  reasonings,  the  lesser  lights  of  some  orthodox 
churches,  to  whom  Dr.  Bushnell  should  he  respectable  author- 
ity, stigmatize  as  shallow,  ill-trained,  ill-  brained  and  fanatical 
those  who  believe  in  the  healing  power  of  mind,  even  with  the 
living  evidences  before  them  in  the  forms  of  wives,  husbands, 
brothers,  sisters,  parents  and  children  rescued  from  the  verge 


-5  STARTLING  MIRACLES. 

of  the  grave  by  its  agency.  Such  doubters  try  to  jest  fact  out 
of  existence  to  sneer  down  truth  and,  by  the  methods  of  the 
stump  orator  and  the  police  court  attorney,  to  discredit  even 
the  words  of  Him  who  spake  as  never  man  spake. 


TY 


JVIethodist  JWHraeles, 


EVANGELISTS'    TESTIMONY. 


METHODIST  REVIVALISTS  TELL  HOW  GOD  GAVE  THEM 
SPECIAL  AID. 

That  John  Wesley,  the  originator  of  Methodism,  believed 
in  miracles  is  evident  from  the  history  of  Methodism  by  Abel 
Stevens,  D.  D.,  New  York  and  London,  1858.  In  the  earliest 
pages  of  the  work  several  events  are  described  from  which  the 
inference  is  unavoidable  that  the  author  regards  them  as  of 
supernatural  origin.  The  "physical  phenomena"  or  "jerks"  are 
attributed  to  the  devil,  but  the  rescue  of  Wesley  when  he  was 
a  child  from  his  father's  house,  which  was  burning,  is  related 
as  if  it  were  miraculous,  though  details  related  show  that  it 
was  somewhat  marvelous  yet  was  well  accounted  for  on  purely 
natural  grounds.  The  tone  of  the  author  shows  that  he  regards 
it  as  miraculous  and  this  indicates  that  the  belief  survived 
among  Methodist  doctors  of  divinity  until  after  the  middle  of 
this  century. 

The  physical  phenomena  were  such  as  were  common,  and 
still  are,  at  revivals  and  camp  meetings  in  some  parts  of  the 
United  States.  These  Wesley  attributed  to  Satan  mimicking 
God's  work,  but  the  historian  argues  that  the  primitive  Chris- 
tians "had  the  jerks"  and  the  early  American  Presbyterians 


EVANGELISTS'   TESTIMONY.  „ 

were  similarly  affected  at  camp  meetings,  and  he  fortifies  his 
position  by  relating  numerous  wonders  of  that  kind. 

WESLEY'S  ARGUMENT. 

Wesley's  argument  that  mira'cles  are  realities  is  that  all 
Christians  believe  in  a  general  providence;  that  there  could  be 
no  general  providence  if  there  were  no  special  providence,  be- 
cause a  whole  without  parts  is  inconceivable,  and  that  special 
providences  are  miracles.  In  answer  to  the  self-propounded 
question,  "Do  you  expect  miracles?"  he  answered: 

Certainly  I  do  if  I  believe  the  Bible;  for  the  Bible 
teaches  me  that  God  hears  and  answers  prayer,  but 
every  answer  to  prayer  is  properly  a  miracle.  If  natural 
causes  take  their  course,  if  things  go  on  in  their  natural 
way,  it  is  no  answer  at  all. 

Rev.  Joshua  Marsden,  an  English  Wesleyan,  after  a  visit 
to  the  United  States  in  1812,  published  a  sketch  of  Francis 
Asbury,  one  of  the  early  bishops  of  the  Methodist  church  in 
this  country.  In  the  sketch  Mr.  Marsden  said:  "Divine  wis- 
dom seemed  to  direct  all  his  undertakings,  for  he  sought  its 
counsel  upon  all  occasions." 

"METHODIST  FANATICS." 

"A  Barrister,1'  in  a  series  of  papers  on  the  Evangelical 
sects,  in  the  London  Quarterly  Review,  Vol.  IV  (1820),  com- 
plains of  the  "bigotry  and  fanaticism"  of  the  orthodox  dissent- 
ers and  Methodists  of  that  day.  He  cited  their  organs,  the 
"Evangelical"  and  "Methodist"  magazines  in  proof  of  their 
human  weakness.  The  Methodist  Magazine  for  October,  1804, 


4o  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

declared  that  the  recovery  of  the  King  in  1788  was  due  to  the 
prayers  of  John  Pawson  and  his  congregation,  and  this  was 
considered  proof  enough  of  the  charge  of  fanaticism. 

itinerant  preachers  of  the  Methodist  church  were  repre* 
eented  to  have  had  special  gifts  for  causing  rain  in  seasons  of 
drouth,  and  the  magazine  is  charged  with  such  fanaticism  as 
asserting  that  the  Methodists  caused  the  abatement  of  a  plague 
of  caterpillars  by  producing  an  invasion  of  crows  by  which  the 
pests  were  devoured.  The  barrister  quotes  quite  at  length 
from  the  magazine  named,  an  article  written  by  William  Shep- 
herd of  Banbury,  who  in  1804  claimed  to  have  restored  to  life 
a  child  that  had  died  before  medical  aid  could  be  summoned. 
Shepherd  wrote  that  within  an  hour  and  a  half  after  he  recalled 
the  child's  life  it  had  eaten  a  meal  and  was  playing  around  the 
house  as  if  nothing  unusual  had  occurred. 

ELDER  JACOB  KNAPP. 

Elder  Jacob  Knapp,  who  was  to  the  East  what  Peter  Cart- 
wright  was  to  the  Mississippi  valley,  adds  his  testimony  to  the 
reality  of  modern  miracles,  in  his  autobiography.  After  re- 
lating the  difficulties  with  which  he  contended  during  his  early 
days  as  an  evangelist,  he  says,  on  page  32: 

But  in  my  distress  I  cast  my  burdens  on  the  Lord. 
I  sought  to  know  the  will  of  God.  I  cried  unto  the  Lord 
and,  blessed  be  His  name,  very  soon  He  made  known 
His  ways  and  lifted  upon  me  the  light  of  His  counte- 
nance. After  spending  one  whole  night  in  fasting  and 
prayer  and  continuing  my  fast  till  midnight,  the  place 
where  I  was  staying  was  filled  with  the  manifested 


EVANGELISTS'   TESTIMONY.  4I 

Glory  of  God.    His  presence  was  revealed  to  me,  not  ex- 
actly 111  visible  form,  but  as  really  to  my  recognition  as 
though  He  had  come  in  person,  and  a  voice  seemed  to 
say  to  me:     "Hast  thou  ever  lacked  a  field  in  which  to 
labor?"  I  answered:    "Not  a  day."  "Have  I  not  sustained 
thee  and  blessed  thy  labors?"  I  answered:  "Yea,  Lord." 
"Then  learn  that  henceforth  thou  art  not  dependent  on 
thy  brethren  but  upon  me.     Have  no  concern,  but  go 
on  in  thy  work.    My  grace  shall  be  sufficient  for  thee." 
I  will  only  make  one  more  reference  to  Knapp's  belief  in 
miracles  in  his  behalf.    On  page  96  of  his  book  he  relates  that 
in  February,  1839,  in  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  while  snow  lay  on  the 
ground    a    mob    attacked  the  church  where  he  was  preaching, 
when  a  violent  thunder  storm  arose  and  the  lightning's  flashes 
were  so  vivid  that  the  mob  was  dispersed. 

PETER  CARTWRIGHT. 

What  American  has  not  heard  of  Peter  Cartwright?  He 
was  one  of  the  most  notable  of  pioneer  preachers  of  the  Metho- 
dist church  in  the  then  far  West.  He  was  licensed  as  an  ex- 
horter  in  1802  in  Kentucky  and  was  during  more  than  half  a 
century  a  very  prominent  figure  and  powerful  propagator  of 
Christianity  as  expounded  by  his  church.  That  he  believed  in 
miracles  is  more  evident  in  the  preface  to  his  autobiography 
than  complimentary  to  the  modern  Methodist.  In  his  preface 
he  says: 

MIRACULOUS  DULLNESS. 

When  I  consider  the  unsurmountable  disadvantages 
and  difficulties  that  the  early  pioneer  Methodist  preach- 


42  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

ers  labored  under  in  spreading    the    Gospel    in   these 
western  wilds,  in  the  great  valley  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  contrast  the  disabilities  that  surrounded  them  on 
every  hand,  with  the  glorious  human  advantages  that 
are  enjoyed  by  their  present  successors,  it  is  confound- 
ingly  miraculous  to  me  that  our  modern  preachers  can- 
not preach  better  and  do  more  good  than  they  do. 
In  describing  scenes  at  camp  meetings  and  revivals,  Mr. 
Cartwright  tells  at  some  length  of  "the  jerks,"  a  spasmodic 
affliction,  that  came  upon  many  who  were  in  attendance.    He 
grows  amusing  when  he  describes   the   humiliation    of    finely 
dressed  young  men  and  women  being  seized  and  the  finery  of 
the  ladies  go  flying  under  the  influence  of  these  physical  phe- 
nomena.    One  incident  which  he  relates  is  far  from  amusing, 
however,  and  it  is  here  copied.    He  does  not  say  just  when  the 
tragic  event  occurred,  but  as  it  was  soon  after  he  began  his 
ministry  it  must  have  occurred  not  later  than  1802.    The  story 
is  this: 

MIRACLE  FATAL  TO  A  SCOFFER. 
While  I  am  on  this  subject  I  will  relate  a  very 
serious  circumstance  which  I  knew  to  take  place  with 
a  man  who  had  the  jerks  at  a  camp  meeting  on  what 
was  called. the  ridge,  in  William  Magee's  congregation. 
There  was  a  great  work  of  religion  in  the  encampment. 
The  jerks  were  very  prevalent.  There  was  a  company 
of  drunken  rowdies  who  came  to  interrupt  the  meeting. 
These  rowdies  were  headed  by  a  very  large  drinking 
man.  They  came  with  their  bottles  of  whisky  in  their 


EVANGELISTS'   TESTIMONY.  ,~ 

pockets.  This  large  man  cursed  the  jerks  and  all  reli- 
gion. Shortly  afterward  he  t  ook  the  j  erks  and  he 
started  to  run,  but  he  jerked  so  powerfully  he  could  not 
get  away.  He  halted  among  some  saplings  and,  al- 
though he  was  violently  agitated,  he  took  out  his  bot- 
tle of  whisky  and  swore  he  would  drink  the  damned 
jerks  to  death,  but  he  jerked  at  such  a  rate  he  could 
not  get  the  bottle  to  his  mouth,  though  he  tried  hard. 
At  length  he  fetched  a  sudden  jerk,  and  the  bottle 
struck  a  sapling  and  was  broken  to  pieces  and  spilled 
his  whisky  on  the  ground.  There  was  a  great  crowd 
gathered  around  him,  and  when  he  lost  his  whisky  he 
became  very  much  enraged,  and  cursed  and  swore  very 
profanely,  his  jerks  still  increasing.  At  length  he 
fetched  a  very  violent  jerk,  snapped  his  neck  and  soon 
expired  with  his  mouth  full  of  cursing  and  bitterness. 

Cartwright's  comment  was  this: 

I  always  looked  upon  the  jerks  as  a  judgment  sent 
from  God,  first,  to  bring  sinners  to  repentance,  and, 
secondly,  to  show  professors  that  God  could  work  with 
or  without  means  and  that  He  could  work  over  and 
above  means  and  do  whatever  seemeth  Him  good,  to 
the  glory  of  His  grace  and  the  salvation  of  the  world. 
In  Chapter  IX  of  Cartwright's  autobiography  he  tells  of 
the  hardships  he  endured  in  Ohio  and  in  getting  back  to  his 
father's  home  in  Kentucky  for  a  new  outfit;  his  receipts  dur- 
ing a  year  not  being  sufficient  to  pay  for  a  new  suit  of  clothes. 


44  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

He  set  cut  with  seventy-five  cents,  but  Providence  raised  up 
friends  for  him  on  the  way  and  they  voluntarily  furnished  him 
money.  This  was  in  1807.  When  he  reached  Hopkinsvifle, 
Ky.,  he  t'ound  a  tavern  kept  by  an  acquaintance  of  his  father 
and  was  entertained  on  credit.  During  the  night  the  land- 
lord's wife  was  seized  with  hysterics  and  her  screams  aroused 
the  weary  preacher,  who  rose  and  asked  the  cause  of  the  trou- 
ble. When  it  was  explained  he  offered  to  pray,  which  offer  the 
afflicted  woman  eagerly  accepted.  He  prayed  and  sang  and  the 
pcor  woman,  who  was  described  as  the  sister  of  an  apostate 
Baptist  minister,  was  healed  of  her  disorder  and  her  husband 
was  overjoyed. 

I  have  here  cited  only  sufficient  to  show  that  the  vener- 
able preacher  who  spent  his  life  from  early  manhood  to  feeble 
age  in  preaching  the  Gospel  according  to  the  Methodist  church, 
agreed  with  Wesley,  its  founder,  in  believing  in  miracles  and 
special  providences,  in  healing  by  the  invocation  of  divine  aid 
and  in  what  Christian  Scientists  now  characterize  as  "demon- 
strating'' for  ways  and  means. 

NEWLAND  MAFPIT. 

Elderly  people  may  remember  a  great  revivalist  in  Rev. 
J.  Newland  Malfit,  who  from  about  1822  to  1848  created  great 
sensations  wherever  he  went.  On  account  of  the  great  scandal 
that  surrounded  his  latter  years  and  his  death,  his  career  is 
rarely  referred  to  now  by  Methodists.  He  was  not  only  the 
peer  of  Knapp  and  Cartwright  as  an  evangelist,  but  greatly 
superior  to  them  in  education.  I  have  been  unable  to  find  any 
biography  of  him  beyond  the  brief  sketches  in  encyclopaedias 


EVANGELISTS'   TESTIMONY.  .- 

but  I  am  old  enough  to  distinctly  remember  his  visit  to  my 
native  home  and  the  great  sensation  it  created.  I  also  remem- 
ber the  stories  that  were  current  of  miraculous  conversions 
and  some  miraculous  occurrences  that  were  hardly  religious  in 
their  character.  The  first  were  related  by  pious  people  and  of 
the  others  only  a  part  were  accepted  by  the  pious.  I  cannot  now 
verify  my  statements  by  documentary  evidence,  but  there  are 
many  living  people  who  will  readily  recall  what  I  have  here 
written  as  fact.  The  appalling  fate  that  overtook  the  once  bril- 
liant man,  whether  he  was  guilty  of  all  that  was  charged  upon 
him  or  not,  apparently  caused  most  of  religious  people,  ortho- 
dox and  "liberal"  alike,  to  let  his  name  drop  into  oblivion  if 
it  would.  His  few  writings  are  now  more  rare  than  valuable, 
I  assume,  but  enough  is  known  of  him  to  show  that  he  and  the 
Methodists  of  his  day  believed  that  miracles  WCFC  wrought  by 
more  than  a  dozen  of  their  leaders. 

R^v.  Chauncy  Giles  published  a  little  book  in  1890  on  the 
efficacy  of  prayer,  but  he,  like  many  others  who  believe  that 
prayer  is  answered,  prescribed  very  minute  conditions  prece- 
dent to  be  observed.  Among  them  I  failed  to  find  healing  of  ill- 
ness classed  with  things  that  would  be  "asked  amiss,"  but  the 
reverend  author  does  not  make  it  plain  that  he  regards  it  as 
one  of  the  laudable  objects  of  supplication. 
JACOB  GRUBER. 

Jacob  Gruber  was  one  of  the  earliest  of  Methodist  preach- 
ers in  the  Southern  States.  He  was  zealous,  earnest,  vigorous, 
self-denying,  "an  unrelenting  enemy  of  oase,"  and  a  man  of 
unwavering  faith.  It  is  related  of  him  in  "Methodist  Heroes" 


46 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 


that  night  once  overtook  him  on  a  mountain  during  a  heavy 
snow  storm  and  he  lost  his  way.  He  had  to  keep  moving  and 
close  to  his  horse  all  night  to  keep  from  freezing  and  when 
morning  came  he  reached  a  cabin  before  the  inmates  had  risen. 
In  response  to  their  congratulations  he  said  the  Lord  sup- 
ported him  and  he  didn't  even  take  cold. 

Another  night  he  was  exposed  in  a  similar  manner  and  in 
the  morning  he  and  his  horse  safely  crossed  a  dangerous  river 
on  the  ice.  He  did  not  find  the  house  he  was  seeking  until  he 
and  his  horse  had  been  without  food  nearly  or  quite  two  days, 
yet  again  he  escaped  cold  because,  he  explained,  the  Lord 
saved  him. 


SAM  JONES'  EXPERIENCE. 

THE  REVIVALIST  RELATES  THE  HISTORY  OF  HIS  CON- 
VERSION AND  FIRST  SERMON. 

Sam  Jones,  the  great  Southern  revivalist,  opens  his  auto- 
biography, in  his  "Own  Book,"  with  a  quotation  from  Charles 
G.  Finney  and  applies  it  to  his  own  case,  viz:  "It  has  pleased 
God,  in  some  measure,  to  connect  my  name  and  labors  with  an 
extensive  movement  of  the  church  of  Christ."  This  Jones 
makes  mor^  specific  on  page  15  of  that  autobiographical  sketch. 
After  telling  of  his  dissipation  and  his  promise  to  his  dying 
father  to  reform  he  says: 

When  peace  and  pardon  were  given,  after  days  of 
seeking,  I  was  impressed  that  I  should  preach  the  Gos- 
pel. I  did  not  know  from  whence  these  impressions 
came;  I  thought  as  did  Gideon  Ausely,*'!  cannot  preach, 
I  am  not  fit  to  preach,  I  do  not  know  •  anything  to 
preach."  I  sought  the  advice  and  counsel  of  several 
faithful  preachers  and  I  believe  each  of  them  said  the 
same  thing:  "You  are  called  to  preach.  You  can  go 
willingly  into  it,  or  you  will  lose  your  religion  if  you 
refuse.  *  *  *  I  conferred  not  with  flesh  and  blood 
further  but  began  immediately  to  preach  the  Gospel  as 
only  a  man  can  preach  it  who  knew  but  two  facts — 
God  is  good  and  I  am  happy  in  his  love. 
Jones  then  tells  the  story  of  his  first  sermon,  which,  though 


48 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 


he  does  not  say  he  was  inspired,  reads  like  the  relation  of  a 
miracle.  He  had  gone  to  an  appointment  with  his  grandfather, 
a  preacher,  who  was  hoarse.  The  preacher  who  was  to  have 
taken  the  venerable  gentleman's  place  failed  to  arrive  and 
Grandfather  Jones  told  Sam  lie  must  fill  the  appointment,  say- 
ing: "If  God  is  calling  you  to  preach,  you  can  preach;  come 
on  in  the  pulpit." 

He  then  describes  his  opening,  but  says  he  has  forgotten 
his  exigesis  and  analysis  and  says  '"hundreds  were  melted  to 
tears  and  many  went  forward  for  prayers."  After  service  his 
grandfather  assured  him  lhat  God  had  called  him  and  bade 
him  go  ahead  with  the  work. 

Jones  has  gone  ahead  and  his  lame  as  a  revival  preacher 
is  equal  to,  though  not  of  the  same  kind,  as  that  of  Professor 
Finney,  whose  case  seems  to  him  so  much  like  his  own.  The 
thousands  who  have  crowded  Sam  Jones'  meetings  in  all  parts 
of  the  United  States  have  heard  him  relate  his  own  experience 
and  many  other  stories  of  miraculous  conversions,  testify  that 
Protestant  sectarians  believe  in  miracles,  each  within  their 
own  sects  and  in  answer  to  the  prayers  of  their  favorite 
preachers,  but  each  are  skeptical  concerning  those  performed 
through  the  instrumentality  of  other  evangelists.  Especially 
is  this  skepticism  true  as  applies  to  new  systems  of  religion 
and  the  advocates  thereof. 


AN  EMINENT  METHODIST. 


BISHOP    FOWLER    ON     SPECIAL    PROVIDENCES    WITH 
EXAMPLES  OF  MIRACLES. 

Charles  H.  Fowler,  D.  D.  LL.D.,  is  one  of  the  brightest  men 
in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  of  which  he  is  a  bishop. 
When  he  was  editor  of  the  New  York  Christian  Advocate,  a 
sermon  of  his  special  providences  was  published  in  the  "Com- 
plete Preacher"  for  July,  1S77.  In  that  sermon  Dr.  Fowler 
said: 

It  is  just  as  much  account  to  pray  about  the 
weather  as  it  was  when  Elijah  prayed  about  it.  Here 
is  a  storm  beating  up  the  coast  likely  to  drive  every- 
thing to  pieces.  The  Lord  touches  somewhere  else  in 
the  universe  some  other  element,  gives  it  a  little  turn, 
and  the  storm  veers  off.  All  we  need  is  to  get  hold  of 
the  great  combiner.  A  Baptist  preacher  by  the  name  of 
Edwards,  who  had  been  an  old  sea  captain,*  when  a 
a  tornado  was  coming  straight  down  upon  his  house, 
knew  that  there  was  mischief  in  the  cloud.  He  believed 
that  God  was  at  home  in  Wisconsin,  and  calling  to  his 
children  said:  "Do  you  see  that  cloud?  That  means 
haim.  Let  us  go  into  the  house  and  tell  God  about  it." 
And  thoy  went  in  and  prayed  to  the  Lord  that  he  would 


,    The  Edwards  here  is  undoubtedly  the  person  referred  to  elsewhere 
at  haviner  been  mysteriously  supplied  with  groceries  and  fuel. 


co  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

take  care  of  them  if  they  were  worth  saving.  They  were 
saved  and  the  next  day  and  for  months  afterwards  you 
could  see  the  broad  track  of  that  tornado  that  cleaned 
up  every  blade  of  grass,  every  roof  and  hamlet,  and 
tree  and  stick  and  stump  in  its  path,  bearing  right 
down  on  this  clergyman's  house  until  it  came  within 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  it,  when  it  made  nn  abrupt  turn,  „ 
went  to  one  side  till  opposite  his  house,  then  it  turned 
back  into  its  old  path  and  went  on.  That  man  got  hold 
of  the  great  Combiner  and  the  Lord  looked  after  him. 

Dr.  Fowler  illustrated  his  idea  by  a  hypothetical  case.  He 
supposed  a  pious  man  in  deep  meditation  over  whose  path 
hung  a  tree  that  was  liable  to  fall  any  moment.  A  sound  ar- 
rests his  footsteps  in  time  to  prevent  him  being  under  the  tree 
as  it  falls,  "and 'he  is  as  much  saved  by  the  providence  of  God 
as  he  would  have  been  if  the  Lord  had  come  out  and  rolled  up 
his  sleeves  and  held  up  the  tree  before  the  eyes  of  men. 

He  cited  the  case  of  a  soldier  who  was  moved  by  an  irre- 
sistible impulse  to  get  under  cover  while  eating  his  lunch  one 
day  in  front  of  Petersburg.  He  had  hardly  moved  his  head 
when  a  rebel  bullet  pierced  the  tree  where  it  had  rested.  On 
this  he  comments:  "He  was  saved  as  much  as  if  the  Lord  had 
come  down  and  turned  aside  that  gun." 

He  also  recited  the  case  of  a  ship's  return  to  her  home  port 
after  a  three  years'  voyage  and,  as  she  was  about  to  land  her 
crew,  a  storm  sent  her  upon  the  rocks,  where  she  was  pounded 
to  pieces.  A  poor  woman  who  had  been  to  the  shore  to  meet  her 
son  went  home  and  spent  the  night  in  prayer.  At  daylight 


AN    EMINENT    METHODIST.  „ 

that  son  burst  into  the  room  and  cried:  "I  knew,  mother,  that 
you  would  pray  me  ashore."  Upon  this  Fowler  said:  "She, 
too,  got  hold  of  the  great  Combiner.  That  is  what  I  believe 
about  Providence  and  about  prayer,  and  the  Bible  is  full  of  it 
from  one  end  to  the  other." 

Dr.  Fowler  did  not  stop  there.  He  told  of  Fletcher  being 
saved  to  the  church  and  to  God  by  the  act  of  a  clumsy  servant 
scalding  him  and  thus  preventing  him  going  to  sea  as  a  lieu- 
tenant in  the  British  navy  in  a  ship  that  never  came  back. 


MIRACLES  THAT  ENTERTAIN. 

STORIES  OF  GOD'S  INTERVENTION  IN  AID  OF  THE 
STRIVERS  AFTER  VIRTUE. 

Rev.  J.  V.  Watson,  D.  D.,  was  a  man  who  was  deeply  re- 
spected in  the  morning  and  until  the  noon  of  the  present  cen- 
tury, when  he  died.  He  entered  the  itinerant  ministry  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  during  the  second  decade  of  the 
century  and  was  for  many  years  editor  of  the  Northwestern 
Christian  Advocate,  in  Chicago.  After  his  death  a  book  he  had 
in  preparation  was  publisher]  and,  though  all  the  articles  it 
contains  were  not  written  by  him,  the  author  said  the  staple 
of  the  volume  was  from  his  pen  and,  as  all  of  it  was  culled 
from  the  paper  of  which  he  was  for  ten  years  the  editor,  the 
miraculous  incidents  must  be  regarded  as  having  the  stamp  of 
Methodist  approval. 

The  story  with  which  Dr.  Watson  opens  his  volume  has 
for  its  chief  incidents  the  inspiration  of  a  young  preacher  and 
the  resultant  conversion  of  his  scoffing  brother.  It  was  written 
by  a  woman  whose  name  is  not  given,  except  as  "Sister  A." 
Elliott  Ray  is  the  young  preacher  who,  on  attempting  to 
preach  while  his  taunting  brother  sat  facing  him  and  ready  to 
execute  a  threat,  failed  for  a  moment.  Then,  knowing  that  his 
mother  was  at  home  praying  for  his  success,  he  began  by  be- 
seeching those  present  to  pray  also  and,  through  his  mother's 
prayers,  grew  more  and  more  eloquent  until  the  whole  congre- 


MIRACLES   THAT   ENTERTAIN.  „ 

gation  was  profoundly  moved,  many  to  tears  and  the  sneering 
brother  Charles  converted. 

The  ninth  story  is  by  Sylvanus  Cobb,  probably  not  the 
author  once  so  well  known  with  the  addition  of  -'junior"  to 
his  -name,  but  his  father,  who  was  an  honored  clergyman.  It 
tells  of  the  almost  miraculous  reclamation  of  a  besotted  father 
who  awoke  from  a  half  drunken  sleep  in  a  patch  of  woods  and 
overheard  his  little  daughter  bewailing  his  degradation  and 
contrasting  it  with  his  former  loving  kindness  and  provident 
care  for  them  and  discussing  their  mother's  ardent  prayers  for 
his  reform.  It  is  a  prettily  written  story  and  closes  with  the 
acknowledgment  of  the  husband  that  his  wife's  prayers  are 
answered. 

"The  rnwelcome  Preacher"  contains  a  much  more  striking 
miracle  story.  It  is  an  account  of  a  Kentucky  village  that  con- 
tained twenty-seven  self-important  Methodists,  who,  in  1823, 
asked  for  the  most  noted  and  popular  preacher  of  the  state  as 
their  pastor.  The  conference  sent  them  a  young  man  who 
had  just  been  admitted  to  the  conference  and  who  was,  in  con- 
sequence, so  very  coldly  received,  that  his  heart  would  have 
failed  him  had  not  Bishop  George  accompanied  him. 

The  young  man  pleaded  to  have  the  appointment  cancelled, 
but  the  bishop  conducted  him  into  a  deep  wood,  where  they 
both  prayed  for  success.  This  helped  the  youth,  because  the 
bishop  had  fallen  ill  while  they  were  on  the  journey  to  the 
station.  The  bishop,  after  failing  to  prevail  upon  the  youth 
to  try  to  cure  him  by  prayer,  resorted  to  supplication  for  him- 
self, and  was  healed.  Here  is  miracle  No.  1  of  this  story, 


ex  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

which  is  a  mere  incident  of  the  narrative.  After  the  prayer  in 
the  woods  the  bishop  exacted  a  promise  from  the  young  man 
to  follow  this  prescription: 

Go  back  to  town;  if  you  find  a  cross  there  bear  it; 
diligently  and  lovingly  perform  every  part  of  your 
duty;  do  the  work  of  an  evangelist;  fast  once  a  week, 
and  spend  one  hour  of  each  day  in  special  prayer  that 
God  may  open  your  way  in  that  community;  do  this  for 
one  month  and  at  the  end  of  that  term,  if  you  do  not 
feel  willing  to  stay,  consider  yourself  released  from 
the  appointment.  Can  you  do  this? 

He  thought  he  could,  and  the  bishop  left  him  and  pursued 
his  journey,  leaving  the  half  fainting  youth  to  God  and  His 
mercy.  Faithfully  was  the  promise  kept  without  sign  of  any 
change  until  the  last  Sunday  of  his  probation.  When  he  peeped 
out  on  the  morning  of  that  day  the  roads  showed  "group  after 
group  of  citizens  flocking  toward  the  Methodist  church."  The 
sight  was  naturally  inspiring  and  the  author  of  the  story  de- 
scribes the  sermon  as  that  of  "a  man  sent  from  God"  and 
gloriously  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  that  his  eye, 
hitherto  confused  and  unsteady,  "now  kindled  with  a  light 
that  never  shined  on  sea  or  shore/  "  He  adds: 

The  power  of  the  Highest  was  manifestly  upon  the 
audience  and  the  presence  of  an  ambassador  of  Christ 
was  attested  by  sobs  and  groans  from  every  part  of  the 
house.  The  preacher  descended  from  the  pulpit  with- 
out pausing  in  his  discourse,  and  invited  to  the  place 
of  prayer  those  who  desired  to  flee  the  wrath  to  come. 


MIRACLES   THAT   ENTERTAIN.  ~  * 

With  loud  cries  for  mercy,  sinners    came    streaming 
down  the  aisle  and  before  the  congregation   was   dis- 
missed seven  souls  professed  to  find  peace  in  believing. 
This  was  followed  by  a  revival  which  for  four  weeks  was 
so  all-absorbing  that  little  else  received  any  attention.    When 
the  call  was  made  for  those  who  wished  to  join  the  church  one 
hundred  and  eleven  presented  themselves. 

That  village  was  made  a  permanent  station  and  the  author 
discloses  in  two  brief  paragraphs  at  the  conclusion  of  his  story 
that  it  is  Russellville,  Ky.,  and  that  the  unwelcome  preacher 
was  then  (in  1856)  Rev.  E.  Stevenson,  D.  D.,  book  agent,  of  the 
M.  E.  Church  South. 

Dr.  Watson  did  one  praiseworthy  act  in  getting  out  his 
bcok.  He  devoted  a  chapter  to  Newland  Maffit  and  in  It  dis- 
plays sufficient  Christian  charity  to  touch  lightly  on  the  of- 
fenses charged  on  that  gifted  but  erratic  zealot  and  give,  him 
full  credit  for  what  of  good  was  in  him. 


ORTHODOX  PRAYER  CURE. 


A    TEXT    BOOK    FOR    METHODIST    PREACHERS    WHICH 

TEACHES  MIRACULOUS  HEALING. 
Rev.  James  Caughey,  who  is  described  as  "an  eminently 
•successful  revivalist"  on  the  title  page  of  a  work  with  the 
lengthy  title,  "Helps  to  a  Life  of  Holiness  and  Usefulness  or 
Revival  Miscellanies,"  contributes  a  striking  bit  of  evidence 
in  support  of  religion  as  a  cure  for  disease.  That  his  works 
must  be  regarded  as  authority,  I  accept  as  evidence  that  the 
matter  in  the  volume  from  which  I  shall  quote  was  "selected" 
by  Rev.  Ralph  W.  Allen  and  Rev.  Daniel  Wise  and  was  ct;  the 
forty-second  thousand.  On  page  345  of  this  work  Mr.  Caughey 
speaks  of  an  "ingenius  Dr.  C."  thus: 

Dr.  C.  reckons  all  gloomy  wrong-headedness  and 
spurious  free- thinking  as  so  many  symptoms  of  bodily 
disease  and,  I  think,  says:  "The  human  organs  in 
some  nervous  distempers  may,  perhaps,  be  rendered 
tit  for  tne  actuatirn  of  demons"  and  advises  religion 
as  an  excellent  remedy. 

In  a  chapter  devoted  to  answers  to  prayer  two  page>.  401 
and  402,  are  devoted  especially  to  the  subject.  The  writer 
quotes  a  simile  employed  by  others  who  had  spoken  and  writ- 
ten before  him,  which  likened  the  petitioner  to  a  man  in  a  boat 
who  grappled  a  ship.  The  ship  did  not  yield  to  him  but  towed 
the  boat  with  it.  Of  this  Mr.  Caughey  says: 


ORTHODOX  PRAYER  CURE.  ^ 

I  do  not  like  the  idea,  however  ingeniously  carried 
out,  that  God  is  as  stationary,  with  regard  to  the 
returning  sinner  or  praying  believer,  as  the  ship  to  the 
boatman.  It  seems  to  make  against  the  analogy  of  the 
Scripture,  "Draw  nigh  to  God  and  He  will  draw  nigh 
to  you.  James,  iv:8.  This  seems  like  a  proposal  to 
meet  us  half  way,  and  if  we  take  the  example  of  the 
prodigal  son,  as  illustrative  of  the  willingness  of  God 
to  receive  returning  sinners,  our  Heavenly  Father  per- 
forms the  largest  part.  The  prodigal  did  not  run  to 
meet  his  father  but  his  father  ran  to  meet  the  repent- 
ing son,  "and  fell  upon  his  neck  and  kissed  him." 

In  a  chapter  devoted  to  preaching  the  author  tells  a  story 
that  would  have  fitted  well  into  that  from  which  the  foregoing 
extract  was  taken.  It  is  in  brief  that  a  young  minister  named 
Stoddard,  at  North  ham pton,  Mass.,  whoso  congregation  be- 
came convinced  that  he  had  never  been  converted  because, 
though  he  was  learned  and  devoted  to  his  work,  his  preaching 
did  not  appeal  to  them.  After  a  conference  they  decided  to 
hold  a  meeting  at  which  to  pray  for  his  conversion.  The  pas- 
tor, surprised  at  a  gathering  of  which  he  had  no  notice,  in- 
quired the  cause  of  one  whom  he  saw  going  to  the  church. 
When  informed  he  retired  and  prayed  for  himself.  Mr.  Caughey 
says: 

While  they  were  yet  speaking,  God  answered  and 
set  His  soul  at  liberty.  It  was  not  long  before  the. peo- 
ple of  God  obtained  evidence,  most  unquestionable,  that 
he  had  indeed  passed  "from  death  unto  life."  That 


rg  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

man  labored  among  them  nearly  half  a  century,  and, 
it  is  said,  he  was  ranked  among  the  most  able  minis- 
ters of  the  age. 

That  Caughey's  works  are  soundly  orthodox  is  evident 
from  the  preface,  a  note  which  says  that  after  10,000  copies  had 
been  sold  in  about  a  year,  the  plates  were  purchased  by  the 
book  agents  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South,  by 
whom  the  book  was  afterwards  published. 


COMMUNED  WITH  GOD, 


REVIVALIST    CAUGHEY'S    ACCOUNT    OF    HIS    FAILURE 
TO  MARRY. 

Rev.  James  Caughey,  who  is  mentioned  elsewhere  in  this 
volume,  as  the  author  of  "Revival  Miscellanies,"  was  one  of 
the  early  Methodist  preachers  in  the  United  States,  having  been 
ordained  deacon  in  1834  at  the  annual  conference  in  Troy,  N. 
Y.  In  a  biographical  sketch  in  ''Earnest  Christianity"  his 
words  are  quoted  concerning  his  communion  with  God.  For 
the  sake  of  saving  space  I  reduce  them  to  their  essence,  but 
those  who  wish  to  verify  my  work  or  dispute  it  will  find  the 
matter  on  pages  12  to  15  of  the  work  named,  which  was  edited 
by  Rev.  Daniel  Wise  and  Rev.  Ralph  W.  Allen. 

In  1839  Mr.  Caughey  was  appointed  to  Whitehall,  N.  Y., 
and  began  to  reflect  on  taking  a  wife.  Immediately  his  heart 
became  hard  and  "the  Lord  seemed  to  depart  from"  him.  The 
more  he  reflected  on  the  subject  the  further  the  Lord  seemed 
to  withdraw  from  him.  He  says: 

God,  who  had  honored  me  with  such  intimate 
communion  with  Himself  since  my  conversion,  appar- 
ently left  mo  to  battle  it  out  alone.  I  was  about  to  step 
out  of  the  order  of  IJis  providence  and  He  was  re- 
solved to  prevent  it  unless  I  should  refuse  to  under- 
stand why  He  thus  resisted  me.  Had  l  continued  the 
conflict  I  believe  He  would  have  let  me  take  my  own 


5O  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

course,  nor  would  He  have  cast  me  oft',  yet  I  solemnly 
feel  He  would  have  severely  chastised  my  disobedience. 
While  in  this  state  of  mind  Caughey  resorted  to  fervent 
and  long  continued  prayer  for  relief  from  the  weight  that  op- 
pressed him  and  light  as  to  what  he  should  do,  determined  to 
obey  the  divine  command.    He  says: 

During  three  days  I  cried  to  God  without  any  an- 
swer. On  the  third  day  in  the  afternoon  I  obtained  an 
audience  with  the  Lord.  The  place  was  almost  as  still 
as  Sinai  *  *  *  I  left  the  place  without  receiving 
any  light,  but  my  heart  was  fully  softened  and  subdued 
and  I  felt  sure  I  had  prevailed  in  some  way  with  God. 
I  was  confident  light  and  direction  were  coming. 

On  the  same  evening  (July  9,  1839)  a  light  reached  him  and 
he  gives  the  following  as  a  feeble  attempt  to  reproduce  the 
form  in  which  the  divine  will  was  communicated  to  him: 

These  matters  that  trouble   thee   must   be   let   en- 
tirely alone.     The  will    of    God    is    that  thou  shouldst 
visit    Europe.     He    shall    be    with    thee    there    and 
give     thee    many     seals    to     thy     ministry-     He     has 
provided    thee    with    funds.     Make    thy    arrangements 
accordingly;    and  next  conference  ask  liberally  from 
the  proper  authorities  and  it  shall  be  granted  thee. 
The  message  also  contained  some  directions  how  to  pro- 
ceed, and  Caughey  says  it  came  in  a  way  that  left  no  room  for 
doubt.     Throughout  the  page  he  tells  of  the  heavenly  feelings 
it  left  with  him,  of  joy,  of  rest,  of  peace,  and  he  exclaims: 


COMMUNED  WITH  GOD. 


6l 


Oh  the  sweetness  of  that  communication  I  then  en- 
joyed with  God. 

The  next  day  he  unpacked  his  books,  set  his  study  in  order 
and  proceeded  to  fulfill  his  pastoral  mission  and  prepare  for 
his  coming  voyage.  The  meaning  of  the  expression:  "He  has 
provided  thee  with  funds,"  is  explained  by  saying  .he  had  a 
few  hundred  dollars,  the  propriety  of  accumulating  which  he 
had  long  doubted,  but  this  revelation  had  cleared  his  conscience 
and  "the  meaning  of  many  past  providences  was  now  ex- 
plained." 

In  pursuance  of  the  Divine  will  Caughey  obtained  leave 
from  the  conference;  went  through  Canada  as  commanded  and 
converted  about  four  hundred  persons.  Comparatively  little 
is  said  in  the  sketch  of  his  work  in  England,  but  he  created  a 
profound  sensation  in  Dublin,  whither  he  went  unannounced. 
In  the  seven  years  of  his  stay  in  Ireland  and  England  22,000 
persons  professed  conversion  under  his  labors. 

The  body  of  the  work  consists  of  extracts  from  Caughey's 
journal.  In  it  can  be  found  many  incidents  of  a  miraculous 
character,  but  to  reproduce  them,  even  in  the  most  abbreviated 
form,  would  occupy  space  unprofitably.  They  would  simply 
become  cumulative  evidence  of  Methodist  belief  in  miracles, 
which  is  abundantly  proved  without  them. 


Evidence  of 
Baptists. 


BAPTIST  TESTIMONY. 


FATHERS     OP     THAT     DENOMINATION     RELATE     THE 
WORKING  OF  MIRACLES. 

The  history  of  the  Baptist  Church  shows  that  its  organiza- 
tion in  Holland  was  miraculous.  J.  M.  Cramp,  D.  D.,  in  "Bap- 
tist History/'  a  work  published  in  London  in  1871,  quotes  from 
Menno  Simon's  "Narrative  of  His  Secession  From  Popery" 
how  he  was  called  upon,  about  1535,  by  several  Anabaptists 
who  besought  him  to  become  their  pastor.  He  did  not  deem 
himself  qualified  because,  though  he  had  been  several  years  a 
Catholic  priest,  he  was  not  sufficiently  familiar  with  the  Scrip- 
tures. His  callers  were  urgent,  however,  and  he  says: 

At  length,  after  much  prayer,  I  resigned  myself  to 
the  Lord  and  His  people  with  this  condition:  They 
were  to  unite  with  me  in  praying  to  Him  fervently, 
that,  should  it  be  His  holy  pleasure  to  employ  me  in 
His  service  to  His  praise,  His  fatherly  kindness  would 
then  give  me  such  a  heart  and  mind  as  would  testify 
to  me  with  Paul.  "Woe  is  me  if  I  preach  not  the  Gos- 
pel," but  should  His  will  be  otherwise,  that  He  would 
order  such  means  as  to  permit  the  matter  to  rest  where 
it  was. 

In  support  of  this  course  he  quotes  Matt.  xviii:19,20.  It 
is  left  to  be  inferred  that  the  Lord  gave  Menno  the  sign  he 
sought,  for  he  became  the  great  leader,  and  Mossheim  says  he 


BAPTIST  TESTIMONY.  £<- 

became  "almost  the  common    father    and    bishop    of    all    the 
Anabaptists." 

Menno  has  given  a  name  to  one  sect  of  Baptists  who  are 
widely  scattered  over  Europe  and  have  large  settlements  in  the 
northwestern  States  of  America.  They  are  known  as  Mennon- 
ites.  and  those  who  have  settled  in  the  United  States  are 
largely  emigrants  who  fled  from  Russia  on  the  withdrawal  of 
the  exemption  from  military  service.  They  are  essentially 
Germans,  their  forefathers  having  left  the  fatherland  on  ac- 
count of  oppression  and  induced  by  the  Czar's  promise  of  per- 
petual exemption  from  military  duty. 

A  TRAITOR  STRICKEN  DUMB. 

Menno's  success  in  Holland  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
authorities,  who  persecuted  the  Baptists  and  offered  a  reward 
for  the  apprehension  of  Menno.  A  traitor  agreed,  for  a  reward, 
to  cause  the  arrest  of  the  apostle  at  a  meeting,  but  he  escaped. 
Soon  afterward  Menno,  in  a  boat,  passed  the  traitor  and  the 
officers  who  sought  him,  on  the  canal,  but  the  traitor  was  un- 
able to  speak  and  betray  him.  When  Menno  had  escaped  to 
the  bank  the  traitor's  tongue  was  loosened  and  he  cried  out 
that  the  bird  had  flown.  The  officers  were  so  incensed  that 
they,  disregarding  his  plea  that  his  tongue  had  been  bound, 
caused  him  to  be  severely  punished. 

A  MINISTER  HEALED. 

In  1638  Hanserd  Knollys,  an  ordained  minister  who  had 
abandoned  the  Church  of  England  after  preaching  several 
years,  emigrated  to  New  England.  He  was  not  allowed  to  re- 
main in  Boston  because  he  was  suspected  not  to  be  an  orthodox 


56  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

Puritan  and  he  returned  to  London  late  in  1640  and  sustained 
himself  by  teaching  while  preaching  to  the  Baptists  gratuitous- 
ly. While  in  America  he  sojourned  at  Dover  aad  it  is  presum- 
ably at  that  place  that  he  was  healed  of  a  grave  ailment  by 
prayer.  Knollys'  account  of  his  illness  and  recovery  is  this: 

Two  learned,  well-practiced  and  judicious  doctors 
of  physic  had  daily  visited  me  and  consulted  several 
days  together,  and  I  was  fully  persuaded  that  they  did 
what  they  possibly  could  to  effect  a  cure  and  knew  also 
that  God  did  not  succeed  their  honest  and  faithful  en- 
deavors with  His  blessing.  Although  God  had  given  a 
signal  and  singular  testimony  of  His  special  blessing  by 
each  of  them  unto  other  of  their  patients,  at  least  six- 
teen, at  the  same  time,  I  resolved  to  take  no  more 
physic,  but  would  apply  to  that  holy  ordinance  of  God, 
appointed  by  Jesus  Christ,  the  great  physician  of  value, 
in  James  v:  14,15:  "Is  any  sick  among  you  let  them 
call  the  elders  of  the  church  and  let  them  pray  over 
him,  annointing  him  with  oil  in  the  name  of  the  Lord; 
and  the  prayer  of  faith  shall  save  the  sick,  and  the 
Lord  shall  raise  him  up;  and  if  he  have  committed  sins 
they  shall  be  forgiven  him," —  and  I  sent  for  Mr.  Kiffin 
and  Mr.  Vavasor  Powell,  who  prayed  over  me  and  an- 
nointed  me  with  oil  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  The  Lord 
did  hear  prayer  and  heal  me;  for  there  were  many 
Godly  ministers  and  gracious  saints  that  prayed 
day  and  night  for  me  (with  submission  to  the  will  of 
God)  that  the  Lord  would  spare  my  life  and  make  me 


BAPTIST  TESTIMONY.  g 

more  serviceable  to  His  church  and  to  His  saints,  whose 
prayers  God  heard;  and  as  an  answer  to  their  prayers 
I  was  perfectly-  healed  but  remained  weak  long  after. 
The  cautious  historian  in  quoting  this  account  of  the  an- 
cient belief  in  the  power  of  prayer  in  healing  illness/  says:  "We 
copy  it  without  comment,"  but  the  miraculous  escape  of  Menno 
through  the  informer  being  deprived  of  the  power  of  speech, 
and  the  Divine  evidence  of  his  fitness  to  become  a  pastor,  was 
given  without  the  saving  clau&e. 

In  reviewing  his  own  history  some  years  before  his  death, 
Mr.  Knollys,  who  had  acquired  considerable  property  after  his 
return  to  England,  wrote: 

Thus  my  Heavenly  Father  made  up  my  former 
losses  with  His  future  blessings,  even  in  outward  sub- 
stance, besides  a  good  increase  of  grace  and  experi- 
ence, in  the  space  of  the  forty  years  that  I  and  my 
dear  faithful  wife  lived  together. 

Mr.  Knollys  died  in  his  ninety-third  year  and  so  much  was 
he  venerated  by  Baptists  that  in  1845  the  "Hanserd  Knollys 
Society"  was  formed  for  the  republication  of  the  works  of 
early  Baptist  authors.  He  was  among  the  first  three  minis- 
ters of  his  denomination  in  England  who  were  "honored  while 
living  and  whose  memory  is  blessed." 

HE  HEALS  ANOTHER  PREACHER. 
Knollys'  faith  in  the  power  of  prayer  to  heal  was  not  con- 
fined in  its  operative  effect  to  himself.    The  history  from  which 
I  quote  says,  on  page  389,  that  Benjamin1  Keach,  another  of  the 
three  immortals  mentioned  above,  who  was  of  a  weak  consti- 


68  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

tution,  was  so  ill  in  1689  that  his  life  was  despaired  of. 

His  physicians  had  exhausted  their  skill  and  his 
relatives  took  leave  of  him,  expecting  his  departure  to 
be  near  at  hand,  when,  as  Crosby  relates,  "The  Rev- 
erend   Mr.  Hanserd    Knollys,    seeing    his    friend    and 
brother  near  to  all  appearances  expiring,  betook  him- 
self to  prayer,  and,  in  an  earnest  and  very  extraordin- 
ary manner,  begged  that  God  would  spare  him  and  add 
unto  his  days  the  time  granted  unto  His  servant  Heze- 
kiah.  '  As  soon  as  he  had  ended   his    prayer   he   said: 
"Brother  Keach,  I  shall  be  in  Heaven  before  you"  and 
quickly  left  him.    So  remarkable  was  tho  answer  of  God 
to  this  good  man's  prayer,  that  I  cannot  omit  it;  though 
it  may  be  discredited  by  some,  there  are  yet  living  in- 
contestable evidences  of  the  fact; —  for  Mr.  Keach  re- 
covered of  that  illness  and  lived  just  fifteen  years  after- 
wards; and  then  it  pleased  God  to  visit  him  with  that 
short  sickness  which  put  an  end  to  his  life."    He  died 
July  18,  1704,  in  the  sixty-fourth  year  of  his  age. 
William  Kiffin,  the  third  of  the  trio,  wrote  his  own  memoirs 
from  which  Cramp  copies  copiously.    He  does  not  recount  any 
remarkable  miracles,  but  all  through    the    extract   copied    by 
Cramp  there  are  acknowledgments  that  God  guided  and  pro- 
tected him  in  the  exercise  of  his  religious  duties  as  a  minister, 
teacher  and  exemplar  of  the  faith. 

A  REVIVALIST'S  MIRACLES. 

When  I  began  this  work  I  had  little  idea  that  I  should  find 
so  much  material  from  non-Catholic  authorities.    Before  hav- 


BAPTIST  TESTIMONY.  g 

ing  made  any  researches  I  had  almost  accepted  the  dicta  of  my 
Protestant  friends  and  those  authorities  whose  works  I  had 
casually  examined,  that  Protestants  agreed  that  the  age  of 
miracles  had  passed  and  that  God  did  not  now  interpose  in 
human  affairs  because  it  was  not  necessary  where  His  word 
was  before  mankind  to  read,  learn  and  believe.  I  had  heard 
revivalists  tell  of  wonderful  things  that  had  happened  to  them 
but  didn't  recall  them.  One  of  these  stories  will  serve  as  a 
fair  sample.  A  Baptist  preacher  who  was  widely  known  in  the 
"early  fifties"  as  Sailor  Edwards  said  in  one  of  his  discourses 
in  Detroit,  Mich.,  that  God  had  commanded  him  to  go  forth 
and  rouse  a  dying  people  to  their  danger  of  everlasting  pun- 
ishment. His  wife,  of  less  faith  than  he,  told  him  he  would  do 
better  to  earn  something  to  eat  and  something  to  cook  it  with. 
He  hearkened  to  God,  rather  than  to  his  wife,  and  though  his 
larder — or  what  stood  in  its  stead — was  empty,  he  obeyed  the 
command.  He  learned  on  his  return  from  his  revival  tour 
that  he  had  not  been  gone  an  hour  when  a  wagon  was  driven 
to  his  home  with  ample  provisions  and  was  soon  followed  by 
a  load  of  stove-wood.  He  declared  that  the  Lord  sent  the  pro- 
visions and  fuel  and  that  he  had  never  discovered  the  human 
agency  employed  by  the  giver  of  all  good.  If  this  miracle  was 
ever  disputed  I  never  heard  of  it.  Edwards'  home,  if  my  mem- 
ory serves  mo  correctly,  was  then  at  or  near  Laporte,  Indiana, 
which  was,  at  the  time  when  Edwards  flourished,  but  little 
less  easy  to  reach  than  now,  and  if  he  did  not  speak  the  truth 
he  could  easily  have  been  refuted  had  any  cared  to  make  in- 
vestigation, but  I  never  heard  of  any  being  made.  In  the  arti- 


70  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

cle  on  Bishop  Fowler  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  elsewhere  in  this 
volume,  will  be  found  another  miracle  that  saved  Edwards' 
home  and  family  from  destruction. 

Any  person  who  reads  the  life  or  sermons  of  Spurgeon, 
the  eminent  Baptist  preacher  of  London,  must  conclude  that 
he  believed  in  miracles.  His 'story  of  the  building  of  the  taber- 
nacle and  of  the  Stockwell  orphanage  plainly  indicate  the  be- 
lief in  Divine  interposition  in  aid  of  both  those  great  and 
laudable  enterprises. 

ROGER  WILLIAMS'  TESTIMONY. 

Roger  Williams,  who  settled  Rhode  Island,  after  being 
expelled  from  Massachusetts  by  the  Puritans,  bears  testimony 
to  the  reality  of  miracles.  On  that  terrible  winter  night  when 
he  was  warned  to  leave  the  Puritan  colony  and  was  refused 
even  the  privilege  of  awaiting  the  abatement  of  the  storm,  a 
mysterious  messenger  called  on  him;  gave  him  minute  direc- 
tions how  and  whence  to  proceed.  The  pious  pioneer  Baptist 
followed  the  directions  thus  mysteriously  given  with  unfalter- 
ing faith  that  God  had  sent  the  unknown,  unrecognized 
stranger.  Even  when  the  howling  of  wolves  in  the  wilder- 
ness was  such  as  would  have  terrified  one  less  steadfast,  the 
.outcast  Baptist  remembered  that  he  was  under  the  protection 
vof  God  who  saved  Daniel  from  the  lions  and  he  quailed  not. 

The  history  of  Roger  Williams,  his  rebukes  of  what  he 
deemed  Puritan  sins,  his  expulsion  from  Massachusetts  and  his 
founding  the  Baptist  colony  in  Rhode  Island,  are  too  well 
known  to  need  citations  of  authorities  here. 


SPURGEON  ON   PRAYER. 


THE    EMINENT    PREACHER    GIVES    REASONS    FOR    BE- 
LIEVING IT  IS  ANSWERED. 

Spurgeon.  the  phenomenal  preacher  of  London,  was  a  firm 
believer  in  the  power  of  prayer  and  that  God  answered  prayers. 
In  one  of  his  "Sermon  Notes"  (Vol.  II,  page  162)  he  says  the 
Lord  will  answer  prayer  because: 

1.  He  has  appointed    prayer   and    made   arrange- 
ments for  its  presentation  and  acceptance.     He  could 
not  have  meant  it  to  be  a  mere  farce:    that    were    to 
treat  us  as  fools. 

2.  He  prompts,  encourages  and  quickens  prayer; 
and  surely  He  would  never  mock  us  by  exciting  de- 
sires which  He  never  meant  to  gratify.    Such  a  thought 
well    nigh    blasphemes   the    Holy    Ghost    who    indites 
prayer  in  the  heart. 

Spurgeon  gives  three  other  reasons  that  are  scarcely  less 
forcible,  the  third  of  which  is:  "He  has  already  answered 
many  of  his  people  and  ourselves  also."  In  fortifying  his  posi- 
tion he  comments  on  an  illustration:  "If  true  prayer  is  not 
answered  the  nature  of  God  must  have  changed."  In  support 
of  his  position  he  quotes  from  Trapp,  Thomas  Brooks  and 
Harrington  Evans. 

One  cannot  read  Spurgeon's    four    volumes    of    "Sermon 


*72  PEOTESTANT    MIRACLES. 

Notes"  without  being  convinced  that  the  author  believed  that 
God  intervened  in  human  affairs  as  much  as  He  ever  did  in  an- 
swer to  prayer  and  to  promote  the  cause  of  piety  and  justice, 
but  the  word  "miracles"  is  avoided  while  miraculous  interven- 
tion is  taught. 


College  Professors' 
Teachings. 


UNION  SEMINARY. 


SOME    VIEWS    FROM    THE    DIVINITY    SCHOOL    OF    THE 
PRESBYTERIANS. 

The  Religious  Encyclopaedia,  edited  by  Philip  Schaff,  D. 
D.  LL.D.,  professor  in  Union  Theological  Seminary  in  New 
York,  with  Rev.  Samuel  M.  Jackson  and  Rev.  D.  S.  Schaff  as  as- 
sociate editors,  ought  to  be  accepted  as  good  orthodox  authori- 
ty. It  devotes  a  large  amount  of  space  to  miracles.  In  one  arti- 
cle by  F.  Godet  occur  these  passages: 

There  is  an  objection  often  made  to  the  miracles  of 
Bible  history,  that  none  are  wrought  now.     *     *     * 

The  alleged  decrease  in  the  series  of  miracles  is  ab- 
solutely false. 

These  passages  are  widely  separated,  but  they  apply  to  the 
same  subject  or  they  have  ncr  application. 

Julius  Kostlin  follows  Godet  in  an  article  on  the  historical 
view  of  miracles,  in  which  he  says  Luther  regarded  them  as 
angelic  ministrations  and  set  no  limits  on  the  agency,  yet  be- 
lieved that  since  Christ  came  they  were  not  necessary,  but  he 
makes  no  mention  of  Luther's  belief  in  the  supernatural  to  the 
extent  of  causing  him  to  dash  a  bottle  of  ink  at  the  devil,  who, 
he  said,  appeared  in  his  study.  The  ink  mark  on  the  wall  was 
long  an  object  of  half- worship  by  tourists  in  Germany,  who 
deemed  a  tour  of  Europe  incomplete  if  they  did  not  see  the 


UNION   SEMINARY.  _- 

eplash.    After  describing  the  views  of  several  theologians  and 
philosophers  on  the  subject,  Kostlin  says: 

But  in  truth  there  are  miracles  which  cannot  be 
explained  upon  ground  of  laws  inherent  in  nature. 
They  are  only  explicable  on  the  supposition  of  Divine 
direct  action  upon  nature. 

*     *     * 

Before  the  last  word  can  be  spoken  upon  miracles 
some  definite  idea  must  be  attached  to  the  phrase 
"laws  of  nature."  It  will  require  a  more  comprehen- 
sive treatment  of  the  subject  than  the  scientists  are  in- 
clined to  give  it,  for  much  more  than  material  nature 
must  be  studied. 


CURES  AND  CONVERSIONS. 


DR.     BRUCE    DEFENDS    MODERN    MIRACLES    IN     TWO 
COLLEGES. 

A.  M.  Bruce,  D.  D.,  and  professor  of  apologetics  in  the  Free 
Church  College  of  Glasgow,  Scotland,  published  in  1893  a  vol- 
ume entitled,  "The  Miraculous  Element  in  the  Gospels."  On 
page  316  he  begins  the  consideration  of  modern  miracles  thus: 

How  has  it  come  to  pass  that  the  whole  Christian 
people,  speaking  broadly,  has  allowed  the  healing  of 
the  body  to  fall  into  abeyance  in  comparison  with  the 
saving  of  the  soul? 

He  then  says  some  now  think  that  if  the  church  lived  up 
to  Christ's  teachings  cures  would  be  as  common  now  as  con- 
versions. He  cites  Matt,  viii  :17;  Mark  xvi  :17  and  18,  which 
some  hold  to  be  an  unrestricted  promise  to  believers  in  all 
ages  and  says  (page  317)  that  the  possibility  of  supernatural 
cures  in  answer  to  prayer  is  believed  by  all  who  pray,  and  con- 
tinues: 

Neither  is  it  a  question  as  to  the  reality  of  alleged 
faith  cures,  whether  of  the  present  or  any  past  time. 
A  Christian  man  has  no  interest  in  obstinately  denying 
their  reality.  On  the  contrary,  he  can  only  hope  that 
all  cases  of  the  kind  are  as  the  most  enthusiastic  ad- 


CURES  AND  CONVERSIONS.  ~~ 

vocates  of  modern  miracles  could  desire,  and  devotedly 
wish  that  their  number  were  greatly  multiplied. 
Dr.  Bruce  then  relates  what  misery  he  witnessed  during 
his  apprenticeship  as  a  preacher  in  Scotland  when  he  longed 
for  the  healing  power  of  the  apostles.     Notwithstanding  these 
declarations    Dr.    Bruce    thinks    the    church    should    not    put 
healing  on  a  level  with  the  pardon  of  sin  because  "it  unduly 
magnifies  the  benefit  of  mere  physical  health." 

Lest  the  orthodox  skeptic  concerning  what  is  termed 
miraculous  healing  may  regard  Dr.  Bruce  as  less  than  full 
orthodox,  it  is  well  to  explain,  as  he,  does,  that  his  book  is  a 
series  of  lectures  prepared  at  the  invitation  of  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary  of  New  York,  in  1886.  In  these  lectures  one 
is  devoted  to  ''Miracles  in  Relation  to  the  Order  of  Nature." 
In  this  he  defends  miracles  and  treats  as  flimsy  the  opinions  of 
those  who  regard  them  as  being  in  conformity  with  "higher 
law"  or  "unknown  law,"  which  he  treats  as  substantially  the 
same  thing,  or  perhaps  it  would  be  more  descriptive  to  say, 
"unsubstantially  the  same  nothing."  Dr.  Bruce  quotes  from 
Matthew  Arnold's  "Literature  and  Dogma"  thus: 

CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  ENDORSED. 
Medical  science  has  never  gauged,  perhaps  never 
enough  set  itself  to  gauge  the  intimate  connection  be- 
tween moral  fault  and  disease.  To  what  extent  or  in 
how  many  cases  what  is  called  illness  is  due  to  moral 
springs  having  been  used  amiss,  whether  by  being 
over-used  or  by  not  being  used  sufficiently,  we  hardly 
at  all  enquire  and  we  too  little  know.  Certainly  it  is 


7g  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

due  to  this  very  much  more  than  we  commonly  think, 
and  the  more  it  is  due  to  this  the  more  do  moral  thera- 
peutics rise  in  possibility  and  importance. 
Thereupon  Dr.  Bruce  comments: 

On  this  view  it  is  conceivable  that  medical  science 
may  yet  penetrate  the  secret  of  Christ's  healing  minis- 
try, just  as  it  is  possible,  and  we  may  hope  probable, 
that  the  causes  and  cures  of  such  fatal  disease  as  chol- 
era and  consumption  will  yet  be  discovered.  When  that 
day  comes  moral  therapeutics  will  be  a  recognized 
branch  of  medical  art  and  many  of  the  evangelical 
"miracles"  of  healing  will  be  miracles  no  longer,  but 
natural  cures. 

After  further  reasoning  to  the  same  effect  this  learned 
divine  treats  of  modern  instances  of  apparent  miracles  and 
says  they  are  not  be  taken  for  granted  nor  scornfully  denied. 

Some  of  the  hypotheses  advanced  by  skeptics  and  so-called 
liberal  Christians  to  account  for  miraculous  occurrences  by 
physical  laws,  or  on  other  grounds  than  those  of  what  are 
called  supernatural  theories,  are  amusing.  One  of  these,  which 
Dr.  Bruce  notices,  is  by  Paulus,  a  theological  writer.  It  goes 
beyond  the  absurd  and  attributes  deceit  to  the  Savior.  It  is 
that  Jesus,  desiring  to  make  a  present  to  the  bridal  couple  at 
Cana,  Galilee,  gave  them  wine  and  made  them  believe  he  had 
changed  it  from  water,  taking  advantage  of  the  company  as 
"na  fuj  but  just  had  plenty."  Others  have  attributed  to  Jesus 
hypnotic  powers  of  such  extent  as  to  make  the  whole  bridal 
company  drink  water  and  believe  it  to  be  superior  wine. 


VIEWS  FROM  YALE. 

PROFESSORS  FISHER  AND  HARRIS  BELIEVE  IN  MIRA- 
CLES AS  REALITIES. 

George  P.  Fisher,  professor  r*  Church  history  in  Yale  Uni- 
versity, is  the  author  of  a  work  entitled,  "Supernatural  Origin 
of  Christianity."  pub]isiu>n  in  1887.  He  devotes  a  chapter  ol 
fourteen  pages  to  Christian  miracles  and  argues  the  reason- 
ableness of  belief  in  all  except  those  classed  as  Catholic.  By  a 
course  of  reasoning,  that  he  fails  to  see  is  as  forcible  against 
all  belief  in  miracles  as  against  any,  seems  to  satisfy  himself 
that  there  was  no  necessity  for  the  Catholic  miracles  and  hence 
that  they  were  not  real. 

Fisher  does  not  seem  to  have  remained  fixed  in  this  opin- 
ion. In  his  other  work,  "Grounds  of  Theistic  and  Religious 
Belief,"  page  291,  he  evinces  a  belief  in  the  power  of  prayer  to 
heal  sickness.  He  says: 

The  restoration  of  the  .sick  in  response  to  prayer 
is  commorly  through  no  visible  or  demonstrable  in- 
terference with  natural  law.  Yet  no  one  would  be 
charged  with  incredulity  for  holding  that,  in  certain 
exceptional  instances,  the  supernatural  agency  discov- 
ers itself  by  evidence  palpable  to  the  senses.  So  dis- 
creet an  historian  as  Neander  will  not  deny  that  St. 


go  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

Bernard  may  have  been  the  instrument    of    effecting 
cures  properly  miraculous. 

Dr.  Fisher  quotes  Edmund  Burke's  opinion  that  in  the  in- 
troduction of  Christianity  into  Britain,  by  Augustine  and  his 
associates,  that  Providence  might  have  directly  interfered  for 
an  end  so  worthy.  He  also  quotes  thus  from  F.  D.  Maurice: 

I  should  think  it  very  presumptuous  to  say  that  it 
has  never  been  needful,  in  the  modern  history  of  the 
world,  to  break  the  idols  of  sense  and  experience  by 
the  same  method  which  was  sanctioned  in  the  days  of 
old. 

Dr.  Fisher  makes  it  plain  that  he  is  not  credulous  on  the 
subject  of  answers  to  prayer.  On  page  292  he  says  the  most 
that  can  be  said  of  miracles  in  post-apostolic  ages  is  that  some- 
times they  have  occurred  in  answer  to  prayer  and  he  italicizes 
"sometimes." 

PROFESSOR   HARRIS   A   BELIEVER. 

The  Philosophic  Basis  of  Theism  is  a  work  by  Samuel  Har- 
ris, D.  D.,  LL.D.,  professor  of  systematic  theology  in  the  Yale 
University,  published  in  1888.  In  this  the  author,  pp.  65  to  72, 
controverts  Hume's  assertion  that  a  miracle  is  incredible  be- 
cause contrary  to  universal  experience.  Dr.  Harris'  reasoning 
is  very  close,  analytical  and  exhaustive,  and  his  conclusion  is 
that  Hume's  position  is  illogical,  but  the  professor  does  not 
carry  his  argument  so  far  as  to  apply  it  to  any  class  of  mira- 
cles. For  this  reason  I  assume  that  it  applies  as  well  to  mod- 
ern as  to  ancient  mysteries. 


VIEWS  FROM  YALE.  QT 

A  VENERABLE  YALE  MAN. 

The  venerable  Noah  Porter,  who  was  for  many  years  a 
member  of  the  faculty  of  Yale  University,  published  a  volume 
entitled,  "Fifteen  Years  in  the  Chapel  of  Yale  College."  In  that 
volume  is  a  sermon  in  which  he  advises  the  graduating  class 
of  1881,  "Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God."  In  the  closing 
words  of  the  sermon  he  says  God  "never  fails  to  give  success 
to  the  man  that  seeks  first  whatsoever  is  true;  whatsoever  is 
honorable;  whatsoever  is  lovely;  whatsoever  is  of  good  report." 

AN  AMERICAN  WAR  MIRACLE. 

The  venerable  Timothy  Dwight,  once  president  of  Yale  and 
for  many  years  tutor  and  professor  in  that  college,  in  his  lec- 
tures on  theology  teaches  that  blessings  are  often  given  in  an- 
swer'to  prayer.  If  he  knew  of  no  other,  he  says: 

The  blessings  communicated  to  this  country  would 
furnish  ample  satisfaction  concerning  this  subject  to 
every  sober,  much  more,  to  every  pious  inhabitant  of 
This  country.  /  mong  these  the  destruction  of  the 
French  armament  under  the  Duke  D'Auville  in  the  year 
1746,  ought  to  be  remembered  with  gratitude  and  ad- 
miration. *  *  *  This  fleet  consisted  of  forty  ships  of 
war;  was  destined  for  the  destruction  of  New  England; 
was  of  sufficient  force  to  render  that  destruction,  in  the 
ordinary  progress  of  things,  certain;  sailed  from  Che- 
bucto,  in  Nova  Scotia,  for  this  purpose,  and  was  entire- 
ly destroyed  on  the  night  following  a  general  fast 
throughout  New  England  by  a  terrible  tempest.  Im- 


82 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 


pious  men,  who  regard  not  the  work  of  the  Lord,  nor 
the  operation  of  His  hands,  and  who  for  that  reason 
are  finally  destroyed,  may  refuse  to  give  God  the  glory 
of  this  most  merciful  interposition.  But  our  ances- 
tors had,  and  it  is  hoped  their  descendants  ever  will 
have,  both  piety  and  good  sense,  sufficient  to  ascribe  to 
Jehova  the  greatness  and  the  power,  and  the  victory, 
and  the  majesty;  and  to  bless  the  God  of  Israel  forever 
and  ever. 

The  Scriptures  put  this  subject  out  of  doubt  by  de- 
claring directly,  that  blessings  are  given  to  mankind 
in  answer  to  prayer. 

President  DwigLt  then  proceeds  to  explain  that  prayer  does 
not  change  the  intentions  of  the  deity  or  that  prayer  deserves 
to  be  granted,  but  that  "without  prayer  the  blessings  would 
never  be  obtained." 

This  ascribes  to  God  all  power,  but  many  of  those  who 
profess  the  same  religion  as  President  Dwight,  while  admit- 
ting that  his  teachings  are  correct,  would  deny  that  God  could 
or  would  relieve  suffering  humanity  of  so  much  as  a  toothache, 
however  sincerely  the  sufferer  might  pray. 


DISCREDITS  HIMSELF. 


WHITE,  THE  PHILOSOPHER,  EDUCATOR  AND  DIPLOMAT, 
PERPETUATES  ABSURDITIES. 

Andrew  D.  White,  former  president  of  Cornell  University, 
present  ambassador  near  the  imperial  German  Court,  in  the 
Popular  Science  Monthly  of  May,  1891,  discredits  miracles  in 
an  article  that  is  largely  devoted  to  Xavier,  who  is  more  gen- 
erally known  as  St.  Francis  Xavier.  White  says,  after  illustra- 
ting how  miracle  stories  grow,  that  testimony  which  would  now 
be  laughed  at  by  a  school-boy,  "was  until  a  comparatively  re- 
cent period,  accepted  by  the  leaders  of  thought."  After  exerting 
his  powers  of  logic  to  destroy  all  belief  in  miracles  the  eminent 
educator,  philosopher  and  diplomat  thus  betrays  that  he  does 
not  fully  concur  in  his  own  opinion: 

It  should  be  especially  kept  in  mind  that,  while  the 
vast  majority  of  these — (miracle  stories) — were  doubt- 
less due  to  the  myth-making  faculty  and  to  that  devel- 
opment of  legends  which  always  goes  on  in  ages  igno- 
rant of  the  relation,  physical  cause  and  effect,  some  of 
the  miracles  of  healing  may  have  had  some  basis  of 
fact 

The  learned  gentleman  seems  not  to  perceive  that  this  ad- 
mission estops  him  from  further  arguing  against  the  reality  of 
'  what  are  called  miracles,  and  he  continues  his  effort  to  put 


g,  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

limits  on  the  omnipotent  or  even  on  the  operation  of  laws 
of  which  even  he  is  ignorant,  and  at  the  same  time  to  admit  the 
reality  of  some  miracles,  in  these  words: 

We  of  modern  times  have  seen  too  many  cures  per- 
formed through  influences  exercised  on  the  imagina- 
tion, such  as  those  of  the  Jansenites  at  the  cemetery  of 
Medard;  of  the  Ultramontanes  at  Le  Sallet  and  Lourdes 
and  of  various  Protestant  sects — at  Old  Orchard  and 
elsewhere,  as  well  as  at  sundry  camp-meetings,  to 
doubt  that  some  cures,  more  or  less  permanent,  were 
wrought  by  sainted  personages  in  the  early  cnurch 
and  throughout  the  middle  ages. 

One  is  prompted  to  ask  where  the  learned  gentleman  would 
draw  the  line  of  the  limit  upon  the  power  of  the  Almighty  to 
operate  laws  of  His  own  making,  the  effect  and  even  the  ex- 
istence of  which  President  White  has  not  been  able  to  trace. 
If  such  cures  could  be  effected  by  saintly  or  sainted  personages 
in  the  early  church,  the  power  must  be  extinct  or  saintly  per- 
sonages must  be  able  to  exercise  it  now.  If  the  power  ever 
existed  it  was  a  Divine  power  and  must  exist  still,  or  if  the 
learned  philosopher  imagines  it  to  be  extinct  it  would  follow 
that  God  must  have  lost  some  of  His  power.  Is  this  what  these 
learned  men  mean  when  they  attempt  to  draw  the  line  or 
trocha,  chronologically  or  geographically,  beyond  which  mira- 
cles shall  not  pass? 

The  purpose  of  Dr.  White's  paper  is  to  discredit  all  who 
pretend  to  heal  disease  by  any  other  agency  than  that  of  drugs 


DISCREDITS  HIMSELF.  gr 

or  the  surgeon's  instruments.  He  quotes  freely  from  Saints 
Cyril,  Ambrose  and  Augustine  to  the  effect  that  "the  precepts 
of  medicine  are  contrary  to  celestial  science,  watching  and 
prayer"  and  says  this  doctrine  was  reiterated  from  time  to  time 
throughout  the  middle  ages. 

This  shows  pretty  well  for  Christian  Science  as  a  return  to 
the  faith  and  practice  of  the  Christians  of  the 
days  when  Christianity  was  practiced  for  its  in- 
trinsic virtue.  truth  and  its  benefit  to  humanity. 
That  Dr.  White's  object  is  to  protect  medical  practice  is  further 
evinced  by  an  article  in  the  succeeding  number  of  the  same 
magazine  on  the  absurd  idea  that  the  touch  of  royal  personages 
cured  scrofula  and  epilepsy.  As  if  to  emphasize  his  contempt 
for  his  own  opinion  that  his  other  opinion  was  subject  to 
doubt  and  exception,  he  says: 

There  are  no  miracles  of  healing  in  the  history  of 
the  human  race  more  thoroughly  attested  than  those 
wrought  by  the  touch  of  Henry  VIII,   Elizabeth,  the 
Stuarts  and  especially  that  chosen  vessel,  Charles  II. 
These  were  not  all  despised  Catholic  miracles  with  which 
White  contradicts  himself,  but  he  cites  others  performed  in 
France  which  were  by  Catholic  monarchs.      He  also  cites  other 
English  Protestant  cases  and  then  repeats  his  doubts  of  him- 
self by  quoting  from  Collier's  Ecclesiastical  History,  that  to 
despise  these  cases  "is  to  come  to  the  extreme  of  skepticism,  to 
deny  our  senses  and  be  incredulous  even  to  ridiculousness." 

Notwithstanding  the  absurd  appearance  this  gives  to  Prof. 
White's  papers,  they  are  grave  in  tone  and  his  contradictory 


85  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

positions  are  sufficiently  wide-separated  for  the  inconsisten- 
cies to  escape  the  notice  of  a  reader  who  is  not  critical. 

In  a  note  to  his  chapter  on  "Miracles  and  Medicine,"  when 
republished  in  book  form,  in  1896,  President  White  relates  that 
on  his  arrival  in  St.  Petersburg  in  1893,  to  take  up  his  official 
residence  as  minister,  he  heard  much  of  the  stories  of  Father 
Ivan's  miracles.  He  relates  two  of  these  only  to  follow  them 
by  a  complete  and  satisfactory  refutation,  but  also  quotes  the 
witness  by  whom  he  refutes  the  two  stories  as  saying  that  Ivan 
had  done  wonders  in  healing  the  sick  and  relieving  distress. 
Upon  this  White  says  it  was  made  evident  that  Ivan  is  a 
saintlike  man. 

Professor  John  Fiske  of  Harvard  in  his  book,  the  "Unseen 
World,"  in  discussing  the  errors  of  scientists  in  dealing  with 
mystic  subjects,  says,  page  129:  "Most  scientific  and  philo- 
sophical works  have  their  defects."  This  remark  of  the 
learned  educator  would  apply  with  peculiar  force  to  that  other 
eminent  educator  and  diplomat,  Andrew  D.  White. 


A  GERMAN  PROFESSOR. 

DR.    CHRISTLIEB    OF    BONN    UNIVERSITY    ON    MODERN 

MIRACLES. 

Among  those  orthodox  theologians  who  dissent  from  the 
prevailing  opinion  or  the  opinion  that  is  most  frequently 
found  recorded  in  books,  is  Dr.  Theodore  Christlieb,  professor 
of  theology  and  university  preacher  at  Bonn,  Germany,  who 
was  for  some  years  pastor  of  an  orthodox  German  congrega- 
tion in  London.  He  delivered  a  series  of  lectures,  some  of 
them  in  London  on  the  subject  of  miracles  and  these  were  pub- 
lished in  book  form  in  1874  under  the  title:  "Modern  Doubt 
and  Christian  Belief."  The  first  four  lectures  are  devoted  to 
the  miraculous  origin  of  Christianity  and  the  fifth  to  "Modern 
Negation  of  Miracles."  He  devotes  a  short  space  to  describ- 
ing that  negation  and  says  those  united  thereon  are  so: 

Because  with  the  truth  of  miracles  the  entire  cita- 
del of  Christianity  stands  or  falls.  For  its  beginning 
is  a  miracle;  its  Author  is  a  miracle;  its  progress  de- 
pends upon  miracles  and  they  will  hereafter  be  its 
consummation. 

A  little  further  along,  he  says:  "The  negation  of  miracles 
leads  to  the  annihilation,  not  merely  of  the  Christian  faith,  but 
of  all  religion.  Upon  these  postulates  the  learned  theologian 
bases  a  long  argument  that  is  not  within  the  purview  of  this 
work,  but  he  quotes  Beyschlag,  a  contemporary,  to  the  effect 


83  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

that  one  who  denies  miracles  beseeches  God  in  vain  for  the  re- 
covery of  a  loved  child  whom  He  would  have  healed  of  illness, 
and  more  to  the  same  effect.  Dr.  Christlieb  gives  several 
definitions  of  miracles,  one  of  which  is:  Supernatural  phe- 
nomena, between  which  and  miracles  for  affirmation  of  faith, 
many  other  orthodox  authorities  try  to  draw  sharp  distinc- 
tions. 

In  tracing  the  negation  of  miracles  he  says  their  possibili- 
ty has  been  doubted  for  the  past  200  years.  This  seems  to 
imply  that  belief  in  them  was  the  rule  before  in  earlier  times. 
He  then  reviews  the  positions  of  the  English  and  German 
schools  of  denial,  the  fears  of  some  churchmen  that  they  foster 
superstition  and  asks  his  hearers  to  compare  Gospel  miracles 
with  those  of  the  "Romish  and  Oriental"  churches.  On  pages 
305-7  appear  these  very  positive  declarations: 

And  do  not  a  multitude  of  analogies  go  to  show 
that  God  can  interfere  supernaturally  at  any  time  in 
all  natural  existence? 

The  man  who  endeavors  to  make  the  laws  of  nat- 
ure a  ground  of  proof  against  miracles,  simply  begs  the 
question,  for  he  always  presupposes  what  he  desires  to 
prove. 

Regarding  apostolic  miracles  later  than  the  second  century 
Christlieb  cites  Tertullian,  Origen  and  Theodore  of  Mopsueste 
as  witnesses  of  their  performance  as  late  as  the  year  429. 
Theodore  is  thus  quoted: 

Many  heathen  among  us  have  been  healed  *  *  * 
so  abundant  are  miracles  in  our  midst. 


A  GERMAN  PROFESSOR. 


89 


After  relating  the  miracles  wrought  by  Hans  Egede  in 
Greenland  and  others  mentioned  in  that  connection  elsewhere 
in  this  work,  Christlieb  adds  the  escape  of  the  missionary  ship 
Harmony  off  the  coast  of  Labrador.  An  iceberg  bore  down 
upon  the  vessel  which  was  unable  to  avoid  it  but  when  within 
one  foot  of  the  ship  and  when  it  seemed  inevitable  that  it 
must  be  crushed  by  the  mountain  of  ice  and  all  on  board  lost, 
tjie  iceberg  suddenly  stopped  and  then  drifted  away.  He  also 
refers  to  Luther  healing  Melancthon  and  gives  an  account  of 
the  restoration  of  a  girl  who  had  been  paralyzed  twenty  years 
in  South  Germany,  but  is  not  specific  enough  to  make  the  case 
valuable  except  to  say  that  the  healing  was  publicly  certified 
as  a  miracle.  Toward  the  close  of  the  chapter  occur  these 
significant  passages: 

Most  of  us  are  aware  that  wonderful  things  are 

related  of  the  healing  of  the  sick  in  the  present  day. 

Yet  these  are  but  weak  analogies  of  that  divine  power 

of  healing  in  the  New  Testament  history. 

In  a  note  on  page  335  Spurgeon,  the  great  preacher,  is 
quoted  as  calling  certain  German  preachers  "modern  workers 
of  miracles."  To  his  own  question  regarding  miracles:  "Do 
they  still  occur,'  "  Dr.  Christlieb  devotes  nine  pages  of  his  work. 
The  answer  is  affirmative  and  he  closes  the  chapter  with  the 
words:  "With  God  nothing  shall  be  impossible." 


MARVELOUS    VISIONS. 


A  HARVARD  PROFESSOR  RELATES  MANY  ASTONISHING 
CASES  OF  SUPERNATURAL  SIGHT. 

Dr.  Edward  Hammond  Clarke,  a  physician  of  Boston,  who, 
according  to  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  the  poet  physician,  was 
at  the  head  of  his  profession  for  many  years,  was  the  author 
of  a  work  of  315  pages  devoted  to  visions.  The  introduction 
was  written  by  Dr.  Holmes,  who  endorses  three  of  the  marvel- 
ous cases  as  those  of  which  he  had  some  personal  knowledge. 
The  "essay,"  as  Holmes  calls  it,  was  written  while  Dr.  Clarke 
believed  -himself  to  be  slowly  dying  of  an  internal  consuming 
disease,  for  which  his  profession  afforded  no  remedy.  His 
death  in  1877  confirmed  the  belief,  and  his  book  was  published 
the  following  year. 

Dr.  Holmes  says  Clarke  originally  intended  to  follow  his 
father's  profession — the  ministry — and  it  is  evident  from  what 
is  said  of  him  and  his  parents  that  Dr.  Clarke  was  "orthodox" 
as  that  term  is  understood  in  New  England.  The  miraculous 
character  of  some  of  the  instances  related  in  the  work  may 
therefore  be  construed  as  orthodox  endorsement  of  an  active 
belief  in  the  miraculous  of  the  present.  In  the  initiatory 
chapter  of  his  work,  Dr.  Clarke  treats  of  the  many  and  various 
phases  and  varieties  of  visions  and  of  the  persons  who  relate 
them  from  those  whom  the  Christian  world  recognizes  as 


MARVELOUS  VISIONS.  gj 

prophets,  down  to  the  delirium  tremens  patients.  After  mor- 
alizing on  the  incredulity  of  people  generally  and  the  indiffer- 
ence of  many  to  the  marvelous,  he  says: 

The  persistence  with  which  the  truthfulness  of  the 
visions  has  been  affirmed,  at  all  times,  everywhere,  and 
by  such  a  variety  of  individuals,  is  of  itself  a  significant 
fact,  and  one  that  deserves  consideration.  It  implies 
that  below  the  nonsense,  charlatanism,  fanaticism,  ig- 
norance and  mystery,  upon  which  visions  are  largely 
built  up,  there  is  somewhere  a  substratum  of  truth,  if 
we  could  only  get  at  it.  Such  a  growth  could  never 
have  appeared,  nor  would  it  continue  to  appear,  if  its 
roots  did  not  draw  their  nutriment  from  something 
more  invigorating  than  fancy  or  deception.  It  must 
be  admitted,  moreover,  that  the  question  of  the  possible 
occurrence  of  visions  is  one  of  .great  interest  and  im- 
portance. Its  interest  lies  in  its  intimate  connection 
with  the  attractive  and  a  shadowy  territory — the  terra 
incognita  and  debatable  ground — which  stretches  be- 
tween the  body  and  mind,  and  which  connects  this 
world  with  the  next.  Its  importance  lies  in  the  fact 
that  its  solution,  if  a  solution  is  possible,  would  not 
only  throw  light  upon  some  of  the  intricate  and  vexed 
problems  of  psychology,  but  would  aid  materially  in 
dissipating  many  popular  superstitions  and  widely 
spread  delusions. 

To  show  how  high  Dr.  Clarke  stood  as  authority  in  medical 
science,  it  is  only  necessary  to  cite  from  an  obituary  article  in 


02  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser,  reproduced  in  Dr.  Holmes'  intro- 
duction. That  article  says  he  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1841, 
got  his  medical  degree  in  Philadelphia  in  1846;  was  in  1855 
chosen  professor  of  materia  medica  in  Harvard  University,  and 
resigned  in  1872. 

Dr.  Clarke  relates  a  number  of  instances  in  which  highly 
credible  persons  had  visions.  Some  of  these  were  his  own 
patients  and  the  others  were  vouched  for  to  him  by  his  profes- 
sional brethren  in  whom  he  could  confide.  Reviewing  the  sub- 
ject of  vision  after  relating  seven  cases,  the  author  treats  of 
the  machinery  of  normal  seeing  and  hearing,  and  says: 

If  the  modicum  of  truth  hidden  by  the  ignorance, 
superstition  and  charlatanism  which  surround  such 
occurrences,  could  be  disinterred  from  its  environment, 
a  real  service  would  be  rendered  to  humanity.  For 
where  truth  and  error  are  united,  if  the  truth  can  be 
discovered,  error  can  be  safely  left  to  itself.  Nothing 
dies  so  quickly  as  error  and  falsehood,  when  there 
is  no  truth  to  animate  them. 

He  then  says  it  is  a  common  but  erroneous  notion  that  we 
see  with  our  eyes  and  hear  with  our  ears  and  he  proceeds  to 
show  that  the  seat  of  sensation  is  the  brain.  To  this  he  de- 
votes several  pages,  in  the  course  of  which  he  employs  the  ex- 
periments of  Dr.  David  Ferrier  to  show  that  a  frog  or  a  pigeon 
deprived  of  its  brain  retains  sensation,  but  has  no  power  of 
spontaneous  action.  From  these  experiments  Dr.  Clarke  con- 
cludes that  the  brain  is  only  one  seat  of  sensation  and  that 
there  is  spinal  as  well  as  cerebral  consciousness.  Notwith- 


MARVELOUS  VISIONS.  Q~ 

standing  the  frog  and  the  pigeon,  are  shown  to  retain  their 
sight  and  hearing  after  the  removal  of  the  brain  hemispheres, 
Dr.  Clarke  fails  to  show  that  the  brain  is  not  the  seat  of  sen- 
sation by  which  the  senses  of  seeing  and  hearing  are  enjoyed. 

Dr,  Clarke's  work  is  replete  with  interesting  matter,  but 
only  a  small  amount  will  be  cited  here  in  addition  to  what  has 
been  taken.  He  mentions  the  case  of  a  young  woman  who 
had  lost  her  voice  in  consequence  of  a  severe  attack  of  bron- 
chitis. He  does  not  say  what  medical  relief  was  sought,  but 
she  asked  and  obtained  the  consent  of  Dr.  Ware  of  Boston  to 
seek  aid  from  "a  notorious  charlatan,  who  cured  disease  in  the 
old  ecclesiastical  way,  by  laying  of  hands  on  the  affected  re- 
gion." This  charlatan  restored  her  voice  and  she  was  "net- 
tled" because  Dr.  Ware  seemed  pleased  but  not  surprised  at  her 
recovery.  After  a  year  she  had  another  attack  and  "again 
put  herself  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Ware,"  from  which  it  appears 
plain  that  the  doctor  failed  to  cure  her  before  she  resorted  to 
the  charlatan.  Again  he  failed  and  again  she  resorted  to  the 
charlatan  who  failed  also.  Here  it  is  well  to  explain  that 
after  she  was  restored  the  previous  year,  Dr.  Ware  gave  her  his 
theory  of  the  charlatanry  by  which  she  recovered  her  voice. 
In  consequence,  Dr.  Ware  told  her,  she  had  lost  faith  in  the 
charlatan.  Dr.  Ware  t*hen  adopted  charlatanry  himself;  told 
her  to  sit  down,  concentrate  all  her  power  of  will  in  an  effort 
to  speak  and  her  voice  would  return.  She  did  as  directed  and 
the  experiment  was  so  successful  that  she  retained  her  voice 
up  to  the  time  Dr.  Ware  told  the  author  of  the  case. 

Dr.  Clark  on  page  277  describes  a  death-bed  scene  in  which 


g,  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

the  patient,  a  woman  of  refinement  and  education,  appeared  to 
have  a  vision  and  as  she  expired  he  says  he  experienced  a  sen- 
sation that  made  him  perceive  that  something  had  departed 
from  her.  He  does  not  say  he  saw  anything  but  Dr.  Holmes 
in  his  introduction  intimates  that  Dr.  Clarke  used  much  more 
distinct  language  when  relating  to  him  what  he  experienced. 
From  what  both  say  the  inference  seems  unavoidable  that  Dr. 
Clarke  had  a  vision  in  which  he  saw  the  flight  of  that  which  is 
variously  termed  the  soul,  spirit,  ego  or  identity,  that  animates 
mankind. 

As  to  Dr.  Clarke's  opinion  of  visions  as  realities,  the  opin- 
ion quoted  by  Dr.  Holmes  in  his  introduction  is  the  best  index. 
That  opinion  is  thus  expressed: 

Probably  all  such  visions  as  these  are  automatic. 
But  yet  who,  believing  in  God  and  personal  immortal- 
ity, as  the  writer  rejoices  in  doing,  will  dare  to  say 
absolutely  all;  will  dare  to  assert  there  is  no  possi- 
ble exception. 


PROFESSOR    FINNEY. 


THE  GREAT  REVIVALIST'S  AND  EDUCATOR'S  CALL  AND 
CAREER  MIRACULOUS. 

Charles  Grandison  Finney  was  one  of  the  most  noted,  as  he 
was  the  most  scholarly  of  revivalists  of  the  early  and  middle 
part  of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  early  life  he  was  religious- 
ly inclined  and  was  a  prodigy  of  learning,  for  which  reason  his 
preceptor,  when  he  was  about  twenty  years  old,  advised  him 
not  to  go  to  college,  as  he  could  master  the  Yale  course  in  two 
years  by  pursuing  his  studies  in  private.  Finney  adopted  the 
advice  and  took  to  teaching.  At  the  age  of  24  he  began  the 
study  of  law,  was  speedily  admitted  to  practice  in  Adams, 
Henderson  county,  New  York,  and  continued  in  that  profes- 
sion four  years.  During  all  this  time  he  was  not  a  Christian 
in  the  accepted  orthodox  sense,  though  he  appears  to  have  been 
too  regular  in  his  attendance  at  church  for  the  peace  of  the 
pastor  and  of  the  church-goers  whom  he  worried  by  his 
criticisms  until  that  good  man  declared  his  presence  and  lead- 
ership of  the  choir  was  dangerous  to  religion.  ^  ^ 

Until  he  was  29  years  old  he  had  never  owned  a  Bible,  but 
when  studying  law  met  so  many  references  to  it  that  he 
bought  one  and  studied  it  diligently.  During  Finney's  child- 
hood and  youth  that  part  of  Northwestern  New  York  in  which 
he  was  reared  was  the  "far  West."  Churches  and  schools 


g5  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

were  few  and  poor;  preachers  were  generally  ignorant  in  addi- 
tion to  their  rarity  and  poverty  and  Finney  heard  but  little 
preaching  that  was  endurable  to  him  until  he  went  to  Connec- 
ticut in  his  twentieth  year  to  pursue  an  academic  course  under 
a  Yale  graduate.  With  his  mental  acuteness  and  critical  dis- 
position he  found  little  satisfaction  from  the  average  sermon 
even  in  Connecticut  and  when  he  went  to  New  Jersey  and  the 
South  to  teach,  he  heard  no  more  preaching  until  he  settled 
near  his  parents'  home  in  Adams,  N.  Y. 

His  biographer,  G.  Frederick  Wright,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  a  pro- 
fessor in  Oberlin  seminary,  of  which  institution  Prof.  Finney 
was  for  many  years  president,  who  tells  the  story  of  his  con- 
version, compares  it  to  that  of  Saul  of  Tarsus.  He  says:  "In 
Finney's  own  opinion  this  version  of  Gospel  truth  was  in  a 
large  degree  the  result  of  the  direct  operation  of  the  Holy  Spir- 
it upon  his  mind."  And  he  continues: 

The  main  facts  of  the  Gospel,  though  in  unattract- 
ive form,  had,  without  doubt,  been  brought  within  his 
survey  by  the  faithful  pastors  in  Warren  and  in  Adams, 
and  perhaps  even  by  those  unlettered  itinerants  to 
whom  he  had  listened  in  earlier  days;  while  his  own 
resistence  to  the  manifold  claims  of  duty  had  wrought 
up  to  the  highest  degree  within  him  that  sense  of  the 
need  of  divine  grace  which  is  the  starting  point  of  all 
true  religious  faith.  Upon  these  elements  of  truth  the 
illuminating  spirit  now  descended  as  in  a  lightning 
stroke,  and  helped  him  to  see  the  broad  and  reasonable 
basis  upon  which  the  Christian  rests  his  hope  of  life 
and  immortality. 


PROFESSOR  FINNEY. 

In  the  busy  street  and  in  the  light  of  day,  there 
came  to  him  a  vision  of  Christ,  transfixing  him  to  the 
spot  where  he  stood  and  arresting  his  whole  train  of 
worldly  thought.       For  a  considerable  time  he  stood 
motionless  where  the  vision  met  him,  until  at  last  he 
yielded  to  the  summons  and  resolved  that  he  would 
accept  Christ  that  day  or  die  in  the  attempt. 
In  pursuance  of  this  resolution,  Finney  retired  to  a  deep 
wood  and  passed  many  hours  in  great  perturbation  of  mind, 
which  closed  with  a  deep  and  earnest  prayer  for  grace  and 
more  light.      In  the  evening  while  alone  in  his  office  he  again 
resorted  to  prayer  and,  as  his  biographer  says,  "he  seemed  to 
have  a  vision  of  the  Lord  and  that  Christ  met  him  face  to  face." 
This  vision  his  biographer  calls  an  illusion  in  which  he  seemed 
to  see  Christ  as  a  man.      On  being  aroused  he  sat  down  by  his 
fire  and  "received  what  he  describes  as  'a  mighty  baptism  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.'      This  was  an'experience  he  was  not  looking 
for  and  of  which  he  did  not  remember  to  have  heard  before."  It 
is  thus  described: 

It  seemed  to  him  as  if  there  was  a  positive  force 
like  electricity  entering  and  penetrating  his  whole  sys- 
tem. He  wept  aloud  with  joy  and  love  and,  to  use  his 
own  words,  'literally  bellowed  out  the  unutterable 
gushings  of  his  heart.' 

What  followed  his  conversion  was  almost  as  miraculous 
as  that  event  itself.  In  the  morning  Finney  received  a  second 
"baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost"  and  he  resolved  to  at  once  respond 
to  what  he  regarded  as  the  Lord's  call  upon  him  to  preach. 


98 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 


When  a  deacon  of  the  church  reminded  him  that  he  was  to 
appear  for  him  in  a  suit  to  be  tried  that  morning,  he  told  the 
litigant  that  he  had  been  retained  by  the  Lord  Jesus  and  could 
not  try  the  case.  The  deacon  thereupon  settled  his  suit  and 
betook  himself  to  prayer.  The  noise  of  Pinney's  conversion, 
circulated  largely  by  himself,  caused  an  impromptu  meeting 
that  evening  and  Finney  made  an  open  profession  of  religion, 
whereupon  the  minister,  Mr.  Gale,  confessed  that  he  had  ex- 
pressed a  doubt  of  God's  power  to  convert  such  a  sinner  as 
Finney  had  been.  Thenceforth  Finney  devoted  himself  large- 
ly to  revival  work  and  many  who  are  still  living  as  the  nine- 
teenth century  is  closing  will  remember  to  have  heard  him  in 
what  is  now  the  central  West.  His  career  as  a  revivalist,  es- 
pecially his  earliest  years,  were  full  of  events  that  partook  of 
the  miraculous.  Among  these  occurrences  were  several  visit- 
ations like  that  which  brought  about  his  conversion.  During 
the  third  year  of  his  work  as  a  nevivalist  and  the  first  year  after 
his  ordination,  those  physical  manifestations  known  among 
the  vulgar  as  "the  jerks"  made  their  appearance  among  his 
audiences  and  put  an  end  to  a  violent  controversy  between 
Presbyterians,  who  had  been  exempt  thitherto,  and  the  Bap- 
tists, who  had  experienced  them  before  Finney's  arrival. 

The  work  from  which  this  sketch  has  been  derived  was 
published  in  1891  and  it  quotes  from  Dr.  Aiken's  Historical 
Sketch  of  Presbyterianism,  thus:  "After  forty  years,  I  am 
persuaded  that  it  (Finney's  revival  work)  was  the  work  of 
God." 

Finney's  belief  in  miracles  was  not  confined  to  his  early 


PROFESSOR  F1NNEY.  gg 

experiences.  It  did  not  cease  with  his  conversion  or  his  ca- 
reer as  a  revivalist.  When  he  became  a  settled  pastor  in  New 
York  city,  he  says  he  found  that  he  knew  "comparatively  little 
about  Christ  and  that  a  multitude  of  things  were  said  about 
Him  in  the  Gospel  of  which  I  had  no  spiritual  view,  and  of 
which  I  knew  little  or  nothing."  How  he  learned  more  may 
best  be  told  in  his  own  words,  viz.: 

What  I  did  know  of  Christ  was  almost  exclusively 
as  an  atoning  and  justifying  Savior.  But  as  a  Jesus 
to  save  men  from  sin,  or  as  a  sanctifying  Savior,  I 
knew  very  little  about  him.  This  was  made,  by  the 
spirit  of  God,  very  clear  to  my  mind.  And  it  deeply 
convinced  me  that  I  must  know  more  of  the  Gospel  in 
my  own  experience,  and  have  more  of  Christ  in  my 
heart,  or  I  never  could  expect  to  benefit  the  church.  In 
that  state  of  mind,  I  used  often  to  tell  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  that  I  was  sensible  I  knew  very  little  about 
Him,  and  I  besought  Him  to  reveal  Himself  to  me,  that 
I  might  be  instrumental  in  revealing  Him  to  others. 
I  used  especially  to  pray  over  particular  passages  and 
classes  of  passages  in  the  Gospel,  that  sp^ak  of  Christ, 
that  I  might  apprehend  their  meaning  and  feel  their 
power  in  my  own  heart.  And  I  was  often  strongly 
convinced  that  I  desired  this  for  the  purpose  of  making 
Christ  known  to  others. 

I  will  not  enter  into  details  with  regard  to  the 
way  Christ  led  me.  Suffice  it  to  say,  and  alone  to  the 
honor  of  His  grace  do  I  say  it,  that  He  has  taught  me 


IOO  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

some  things  that  I  asked  him  to  show  me.  Since 
my  own  mind  became  impressed  in  the  manner  in 
which  I  have  spoken,  I  have  felt  as  strongly  and  un- 
equivocally pressed  by  the  spirit  of  God  to  labor  for 
the  sanctification  of  the  church  as  I  once  did  for  the 
conversion  of  sinners. 

It  will  be  apparent  from  this  that  Prof.  Pinney  believed 
in  the  inspiration  of  modern  evangelists.  This  belief  must 
have  been  greatly  strengthened  by  letters  and  from  other 
sources  that  God  rewarded  his  later  labors  by  "awakening  a 
spirit  of  inquiry  on  the  subject  of  holiness  throughout  the 
church,  both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe." 

His  views  were  opposed  by  the  leading  New  School  Gal- 
vinists,  who  took  measures  to  avoid  responsibility  for  him  and 
to  preach  against  the  new  doctrine  which  he  promulgated  as  a 
result  of  this  inspiration,  which  he  called  "sanctification." 

As  Finney  never  retracted  but  continued  to  prosper  and 
grow  in  popularity,  it  seems  evident  that  the  opposition  gave 
to  his  belief  the  approval  of  silence,  so  far  as  the  New  School 
Presbyterians  were  concerned. 

Finney  disagreed  with  the  Presbyterians  in  the  matter  of 
church  government  while  in  New  York,  and  his  church  with- 
drew from  that  connection  and  became  Congregational  long 
before  he  devoted  himself  to  Oberlin  college.  His  belief  in 
miracles  and  the  endorsement  of  his  belief  of  his  miraculous 
calling  and  inspiration  by  Presbyterians  and  Congregational- 
ists  for  half  a  century  should  of  itself  estop  both  from  pleading 
that  the  age  of  miracles  is  past. 


PROFESSOR  F1NNEV.  JOI 

The  history  of  Oberlin  college,  as  given  in 
the  biography  of  Finney  by  G.  F.  Wright,  a 
professor  in  that  institution,  shows  that  the  first  president 
of  the  then  "Oberlin  academy"  was  miraculously  or  divinely 
guided  to  secure  Finney.  President  Shepherd  had  started  for 
Cincinnati  on  hearing  that  Lane  seminary  was  being  rent  as- 
under by  the  negro  question,  to  secure  talent  for  his  school. 
The  roads  were  so  execrable  that  he  had  decided  to  go  to  New 
York  instead,  because  he  could  travel  on  the  old  national  road 
while  travel  on  the  mud  roads,  150  miles,  to  Cincinnati  seemed 
impossible. 

At  a  tavern  where  he  sojourned  to  rest  his  horses  and 
himself  after  a  tedious  pull  to  a  central  Ohio  point,  he  met 
Theodore  Keep,  son  of  one  of  the  directors  of  Oberlin,  who 
urged  him  to  proceed  to  Cincinnati  and  secure  Asa  Mahan, 
who  was  about  to  retire  from  the  presidency  of  Lane.  Keep 
also  urged  him  to  then  continue  his  journey  to  New  York  and 
secure  Finney,  who  had  then  reached  almost  the  height  of  his 
fame  as  an  evangelist.* 

Finney  encountered  not  only  stout  opposition  from  Con- 
gregational and  Presbyterian  ministers,  but  from  others  also. 
Some  of  this  opposition  reached  the  point  of  violence,  much  of 
it  because  he  made  several  innovations  upon  what  were  con- 
sidered established  and  respectable  methods  of  revival  work. 
Principal  among  his  innovations  was  the  "anxious  seat,"  or 
"mourners'  bench,"  of  which  his  biographer  says  he  was  the 
inventor. 

*     Biography  of  Finney  by  Wright,  pp.  125  to  135 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

Among  those  who  were  stoutest  in  their  opposition  was 
Lyman  Beecher,  the  patriarch  of  the  talented  tribe  of  preach- 
ers. Beecher  told  Finney  to  his  face  that  if  he  ever  entered 
New  England  he  would  meet  him  at  the  boundary  and  contest 
every  inch  of  ground  with  him.  At  that  time,  Finney  was  a 
Presbyterian.  After  some  years,  when  -a  daughter  of  Beecher 
asked  Finney  if  he  were  not  going  to  visit  Boston,  he  an- 
swered: "Not  until  your  father  invites  me."  Within  a  short 
time  the  orthodox  ministers  of  Boston  united  in  an  invitation 
or  request  that  Finney  visit  that  city  "and  lo!  the  name  of 
Lyman  Beecher  led  the  rest." 

In  describing  the  work  Finney  did  in  the  New  England 
metropolis,  Dr.  Edward  Beecher,  son  of  the  man  who  had  de- 
clared war  on  him,  said  he  honored  Finney  "and  loved  him  as 
one  as  truly  commissioned  by  God  to  declare  His  will  as  were 
Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel  or  Paul." 

The  conversion  of  Lyman  Beecher  from  a  violent  opponent 
to  a  friend,  Fiuney  regarded  as  one  of  the  many  evidences  he 
had  received  of  God's  special  interposition  to  prosper  his  work. 


WILLIAMS    COLLEGE. 

PRESIDENT    MARK   HOPKINS    BELIEVES    THAT     MIRA- 
CLES COME  IN  ANSWER  TO  PRAYER. 

Mark  Hopkins,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  for  many  years  president  of 
Williams  college,  in  his  "Law  of  Love  and  Love  as  Law,"  has 
a  chapter  devoted  to  prayer.  In  this  he  says  prayer  is  not 
simply  desire  but  paramount  desire  and  that  any  form  of  ask- 
ing for  anything,  except  for  that  for  which  this  desire  is  para- 
mount, would  not  be  asking.  He  says,  p.  302,  that  any  other 
asking  would  be  hypocrisy  to  the  omniscient  eye  and  contin- 
ues: 

It  is  only  a  paramount  desire  presented   to  God 

with   the   submission   becoming    a    creature,    that    is 

prayer,  and  the  question  is  whether,  in  consequence  of 
-  such   prayer   man   would   receive  what  he   would   not 

without  it.       On  this  point  the  Bible  raises  no  doubt. 

There  is  in  that  no  recognition  of  the  difficulties  raised 

by  philosophy. 

In    the   matter   of   praying   for   rain   Dr.    IJopkins   quotes 
approvingly  from  the  Duke  of  Argyle's  "Reign  of  Law,"  thus: 
There  are  no  phenomena  visible  to  man  of  which  it 

is  true  to  say  they  are  governed   by  any  invariable 

force.      That  which  does  govern  them  is  always  some 

variable  combination  of  invariable  forces. 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

Upon  this  idea,   carried  out  to  its  full  development,  Dr 
Hopkins  reasons: 

If,  as  some  suppose,  man  can  cause  rain  by  the  fir- 
ing of  cannon,  then  it  may  be  obtained  by  asking  it, 
even  of  Him.  In  such  a  case  there  would  be  simply  a 
different  adjustment  of  invariable  laws;  and  if  results 
may  be  thus  produced  to  some  extent  by  the  interven- 
tion of  human  will,  without  a  miracle,  it  cannot  be  ir- 
rational to  suppose  they  may  be  thus  produced  to  any 
extent  by  divine  will. 


Anstuet*s  to 


THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER. 


A    PIOUS   GERMAN'S   COLLECTION   OF   CA^ES   OF   HEAL- 
ING BY  FAITH. 

A  modest  little  book  published  in  German  in  Cincinnati 
under  the  title,  "Power  of  the  Prayer  of  Faith,"  contains  be- 
tween seventy-five  and  one  hundred  instances  in  which 
prayers  were  answered  in  striking  ways.  The  author,  Karl 
Gottlob  Schuh,  gives  no  indication  of  his  own  standing  in  any 
church  or  in  the  community  in  which  he  lives — (Greenville, 
Ohio — but  it  is  evident  that  he  is  a  man  of  great  piety  and  on 
terms  of  sufficient  familiarity  with  people  prominent  in  the 
religious  world,  to  have  received  their  consent  to  quote  them  as 
witnesses. 

The  first  miracle  story  in  this  book  is  attributed  to  "a 
well-known  man  of  God."  Shorn  of  its  superfluous  verbiage, 
it  is  this:  The  narrator,  who  was  pastor  of  a  church,  found 
at  his  gate  at  daybreak  a  member  of  his  congregation,  weeping 
because  her  husband  had  gone  away  saying  he  would  not  re- 
turn until  the  religious  excitement  then  prevailing  should 
abate.  As  it  was  about  time  for  an  early  morning  prayer 
meeting,  he  conducted  the  woman  thither  and  the  congregation 
united  in  praying  for  the  conversion  of  the  fugitive.  At  a 
night  meeting  the  supplications  were  renewed  and  with  great 
fervor  and  solemnity.  To  the  astonishment  of  the  congrega- 


THE  POWER  OF  PRA\ER. 

tion  the  recreant  entered,  proclaimed  his  renunciation  of  Uni- 
versalism  and  said  that  while  riding  away  he  was  overcome  by 
a  sense  of  his  guilt  and  knew  he  must  be  born  again.  This 
man,  the  author  relates  upon  his  own  account,  is  now  one  of 
the  elders  of  a  Presbyterian  church  and  one  of  the  most  dili- 
gent servants  of  God  that  can  be  found.  • 

The  value  of  this  and  many  accounts  of  miraculous  heal- 
ings and  conversions,  is  impaired  if  not  destroyed  by  the  fail- 
ure of  the  author  to  properly  authenticate  them.  The  same 
is  true  to  a  degree  of  the  story  of  his  own  experience  in  being 
healed  of  dyspepsia  and  catarrh,  because  he  admits  that  his 
book  was  published  before  the  healing  was  complete.  The  work 
is  all  the  author  of  this  work  desires,  however,  because  it  is 
proof  that,  orthodox  Protestants  do  not  all  believe  that  the 
age  of  miracles  is  past.  With  what  other  evidence  is  here 
produced  and  precedes  this  chapter,  it  is  in  the  nature  of  cor- 
roborative evidence.  For  further  corroboration  Mr.  Schuh 
quotes  Dwight  L.  Moody,  J.  S.  Inskip,  Bishop  Bowman  and 
others  who  are  less  prominent  in  the  Christian  world. 

The  story  of  Bishop  Bowman  is  of  the  healing  by  prayer 

• 

of  Bishop  Simpson.  Bowman  was  attending  a  conference  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Indiana  in  1858  when  the 
illness  of  Bishop  Simpson  was  announced  and  Bishop  Jones, 
who  presided,  asked  the  conference  to  unite  in  prayer  for  his 
restoration.  William  Taylor,  the  eminent  missionary  (since 
a  bishop),  led,  and  Bowman  says  he  never  heard  so  powerful 
a  prayer.  While  on  his  knees  he  was  impressed  that  the 
bishop  would  recover  and  he  made  a  note  of  the  exact  time  of 


I0g          PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

this  manifestation.  When  next  he  saw  the  bishop  that  prelate 
was  at  work  as  ably  and  diligently  as  ever.  Bowman  asked 
the  bishop  concerning  his  recovery  and  learned  that  the  turn- 
ing point  of  his  disease  was  at  the  exact  moment  when  he, 
Bowman,  experienced  the  sensation  described  above,  and  dur- 
ing the  prayer  in  the  conference.  The  doctors  had  given  him 
up  and  left  his  room.  When  they  returned  an  hour  later  they 
were  astounded  at  the  improvement  that  had  taken  place  dur- 
ing their  absence,  contrary  to  all  human  experience  and  ex- 
pectation. 

Inskip's  story  in  brief  is  that  illness  had  hindered  him  in 
his  evangelistic  work  and.  threatened  to  end  it  and  his  earthly 
career.  He  describes  his  affliction  in  full  in  a  letter  dated  May 
27,  1879.  Though  an  evangelist,  he  seems  not  to  have  thought 
of  resorting  to  prayer  until  suddenly  attacked  in  Boston  by  a 
headache  that  compelled  him  to  relinquish  the  conduct  of  an 
afternoon  meeting.  His  hostess  advised  him  to  seek  relief  in 
prayer  and  quoted  to  him  James  v-14,  15.  He  and  his  host's 
family  followed  the  suggestion;  he  was  healed;  conducted  the 
evening  meeting  and  had  no  return  of  his  malady. 

One  case,  th£  authority  for  which  is  given  as  Dr.  Edwin 
P.  Hatfield,  a  well-known  preacher  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
in  the  State  of  New  York;  is  that  of  a  little  girl  who  was  healed 
of  paralysis  and  a  serious  aft'ection  of  the  hip-joint,  both  re- 
sulting from  accident.  After  a  season  at  a  hospital  and  medi- 
cal and  surgical  treatment,  without  avail,  the  child  of  9  or  10 
years  was  taken  home  and  the  pious  mother  resorted  to  prayer. 
Weeks  of  almost  unremitting  supplication,  pious  conversation 


THE  POWER  OF  PRA\ER. 

and  study  of  the  accounts  of  healings  by  the  Lord  Jesus  when 
on  earth  followed.  One  day  while  thus  engaged  the  little  girl 
rose  to  get  a  drink  of  water  when  she  suddenly  called  out: 
"Mother!  See,  I  can  walk  again!"  From  that  moment  the 
girl  found  her  crutches  superfluous  and  examination  showed 
that  a  great  ulcer,  which  was  among  her  afflictions,  had  disap- 
peared; the  dislocation  of  the  hip  was  reduced  and  the  afflicted 
leg  had  been  restored  to  as  great  perfection  as  the  other.  The 
girl  was  21  years  old  when  her  mother  related  the  case  to  Dr. 
Hatfield  and  had  had  no  return  of  the  maladies,  but  had  been 
healed  of  another  dangerous  illness  fifteen  months  after  her 
first  healing. 

Mr.  Schuh  publishes  from  Miss  Carrie  F.  Judd  of  Buffalo, 
N.  Y.,  who  had  considerable  reputation  as  a  faith-healer,  the 
account  of  her  healing.  As  her  case  may  not  be  regarded  as 
one  proper  to  classify  among  evangelical  Protestant  cases,  I 
will  only  say  concerning  it  that  its  incorporation  in  Mr.  Schuh's 
book  gives  it  at  least  a  partial  standing  in  that  class. 

The  most  remarkable  case  related  by  Mr.  Schuh  is  that 
of  Miss  Jennie  Smith  of  Dayton,  Ohio,  once  of  Middleburg  or 
Spring  Hills,  Champaign  county,  of  the  same  State.  Through 
a  series  of  misfortunes  Miss  Smith  lost  health;  powers  of  loco- 
motion and  parernal  protection,  all  within  a  short  time.  Be- 
side this,  her  father  before  his  death  had  lost  all  his  property 
and  left  his  widow  and  nine  children  in  poverty.  Miss  Smith 
traveled  constantly  as  a  missionary  in  a  wheeled  couch  and 
after  suffering  and  working  sixteen  years,  without  receiving 
any  relief  from  doctors,  she  went  to  Philadelphia  for  treat- 


IIO          PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

ment  in  1378.  Her  physician  being  a  Christian,  she  suggested 
to  him  that  prayer  be  tried  instead  of  a  surgical  operation  and 
he  consented.  Three  ministers  who.  had  been  stationed  in 
Dayton  while  Miss  Smith  lived  there  happened  to  be  residing 
in  Philadelphia  and  were  present  at  her  request  when  the 
prayer  was  offered.  When  faith  had  almost  fled  and  strength 
forsaken  her,  she  recalled  the  story  of  the  withered  hand.  It 
seemed  as  if  the  heavens  opened  and  an  electric  stream  swept 
through  her  entire  system  and  gave  it  new  strength.  She 
raised  herself  to  a  sitting  position*  her  physician  sprang  to  her 
side  and  let  down  the  footboard  of  her  wheel-chair,  she  sprang 
out,  ran  around  the  room  and  sang:  "Praise  God  From  All 
Blessings  Flow."  Miss  Smith,  says  the  author,  now  works 
great  blessings  among  the  railroad  men  in  Eastern  cities  and 
goes  about  on  foot  instead  of  being  wheeled  in  a  chair  as  for- 
merly. 

Moody's  story,  located  in  Scotland,  is  much  like  that  of  the 
miraculous  conversion  of  the  Universalist  attributed  to  an  un- 
named pastor,  in  the  first  story  herein  referred  to,  and  is  no 
better  authenticated.  Nearly  all  of  the  other  stories  in  this 
work  depend  upon  the  credulity  of  the  reader  to  believe  the 
words  of  unknown  men  and  in  many  cases  of  men  to  whom  the 
author  gives  neither  habitation  nor  name. 


AN  EXALTED   AUTHORITY. 


QUEEN      VICTORIA'S      CHAPLAIN      ON      ANSWERS      TO 
PRAYED  BY  MIRACULOUS  MEANS. 

A  very  ordinary  looking  book  bearing  the  title:  "The  New 
Cyclopaedia  of  Illustrative  Anecdote"  is  the  product  of  the 
genius  of  Rev.  Donald  Macleod,  D.  D.,  Chaplain  to  Her  Majes- 
ty, and  editor  of  "Good  Words."  Anecdote  288,  illustrative  of 
the  efficacy  of  prayer,  tells  how  Rev.  Richard.  Cecil  was  deliv- 
ered from  the  hands  of  three  robbers  on  East  Grinstead  Com- 
mon. The  minister  when  surrounded  thought  it  "an  occasion 
for  faith"  and  recalled  the  Scripture  passage:  "Call  upon  me 
in  time  of  trouble  and  I  will  deliver  thee."  When  the  leader 
asked  him  who  he  was,  etc.,  and  learned  his  identity,  he  or- 
dered the  others  to  let  him  go.  As  Mr.  Cecil  had  £16  on  his 
person,  he  felt  the  escape  to  be  miraculous,  though  the  robber 
assured  him  he  was  released  because  the  leader  had  heard  him 
preach  and  knew  him. 

Anecdote  856  tells  of  a  lady  traveling  in  her  own  coach, 
finding  it  hampered  with  provisions,  ordered  her  servant  to 
give  the  food  away.  The  governess  obtained  leave  to  be  the 
almoner  and  sought  out  the. neatest  premises  in  the  village. 
There  she  found  a  starving  woman  on  her  knees  praying  for 
food  and  gave  her  a  hamper  fiill  of  choice  viands.  The  poor 
woman,  without  rising,  thanked  God  for  having  sent  her  the 


j  j  2  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

food.  The  writer  of  the  story  does  not  say  in  what  country 
or  at  what  date  this  occurred,  but  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  it  was 
in  the  Christian  land  of  Great  Britain. 

Anecdote  872  is  of  Heine,  Berlin's  famous  physician,  who 
lost  all  his  savings  by  a  bank  failure.  The  loss  almost  de- 
prived him  of  reason,  but  he  resorted  to  prayer  and  his  cheer- 
fulness and  hope  were  restored. 

Number  874  is  so  striking  that  I  am  almost  tempted  to 
copy  it  entire.  It  tells  of  a  party  of  Moravian  ministers  on 
the  Britania,  from  London  to  St.  Thomas,  in  the  West  Indies, 
when  the  ship  was  attacked  by  pirates.  The  missionaries  re- 
tired to  the  cabin  to  pray  when  the  crew  prepared  for  battle. 
The  pirate  fired  several  broadsides  and,  though  within  grap- 
pling distance,  failed  to  hit  the  Britania.  The  pirates  threw 
ernpplers,  but  failed  to  catch  them  and  when  they  thought  they 
conld  destroy  the  mission  ship  by  more  firing,  a  sudden  squall 
prevented  their  shots  taking  effect.  When  the  smoke  of  battle 
rose  the  pirate  saw  the  Britania  sailing  serenely  away  under 
fu!l  canvass.  On  this  the  compiler  comments:  "Thus  won- 
derfully did  God  answer  prayer  and  save  the  vessel." 

These  few,  taken  from  among  many  similar  anecdotes, 
should  be  sufficient  to  show  that  the  chaplain  to  Queen  Vic- 
toria of  England,  etc.',  believed  in  miracles  as  late  as  1872,  when 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Guthrie  of  Edinburgh  wrote  to  Dr.  Mac- 
leod  a  letter  commending  his  work  which  the  compiler  says 
was  intended  as  an  aid  to  the  teacher  and  preacher  in  the 
school  or  the  pulpit.  Dr.  Guthrie  says  it  must  be  of  great 
service  to  the  ministry  "by  furnishing  them  with  suitable  and 


AN  EXALTED  AUTHORITY.  j  j  - 

striking  illustrations  of  both  its  doctrines  and  its  duties." 

One  incident  I  cannot  forbear  to  mention,  though  it  is  for- 
eign to  the  object  of  this  work.  It  tells  of  Archbishop  Usher, 
having  heard  much  of  Rev.  Samuel  Rutherford's  piety,  decideu 
to  visit  him  when  visiting  Scotland.  Disguised  as  a  pauper 
he  begged  lodging  of  the  famous  preacher,  who  sealed  him  in 
the  kitchen  while  he  apprised  Mrs.  Rutherford  of  his  presence. 
Mrs.  R.,  desirous  of  testing  the  orthodoxy  of  her  guest, 
asked  him  how  many  commandments  there  were  and  he  an- 
swered: ''Eleven."  The  pious  woman  rebuked  his  ignorance 
sharply  and  sent  him  to  bed  in  a  garret.  Mr.  Rutherford,  hear- 
ing him  at  prayer,  decided  to  treat  him  more  becomingly  and, 
having  learned  his  identity,  invited  him  to  occupy  his  pulpit. 
The  archbishop  accepted  and  took  for  his  text:  "A  new 
commandment  give  I  unto  you,"  etc. 

Mrs.  Rutherford  was  deeply  humiliated,  of  course,  when 
she  learned  that  she  had  snubbed  an  archbishop  while  enter- 
taining an  angel  unawares.  This  same  story  is  told  and  in 
much  more  interesting  form  in  Dr.  J.  V.  Watson's  book,  which 
is  mentioned  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  Methodists.  Its  author 
was  no  less  notable  writer  than  T.  S.  \rthur,  who  was  famed 
in  his  days  as  a  writer  of  highly  moral  fiction. 


TO  HELP  PREACHERS. 


A  BOOK  WITH  MIRACLE  STORIES  TO  ENLIVEN  AND  IL- 
LUSTRATE SERMONS. 

Miracles  seem  to  play  an  important  part  in  the  instruction 
of  ministers.  In  books  miblished  for  their  benefit  and  to  aid 
them  in  preaching,  special  providences  and  answers  to  prayer 
form  the  bases  of  many  anecdotes  compiled  to  enable  preachers 
to  liven  their  sermons  and  illustrate  points  therein.  One  of 
these  books  is  "The  Dictionary  of  Anecdote  and  Illustrative 
Fact,"  compiled  by  Rev.  Walter  Baxendale,  author  of  ''The 
Preacher's  Commentary  on  the  Book  of  Ruth."  The  author's 
name  is  not  important,  as  he  gives  his  authority  for  most  of  the 
anecdotes,  some  of  whom  are  eminent  in  the  religious  world. 
These  stories  are  attributed  to  Spurgeon.  The  second  is  put 
in  condensed  form  to  save  room: 

SPURGEON  ON  PRAYER. 

A  preacher,  whose  sermons  had  converted  men  by 
scores,  received  a  revelation  from  heaven  that  not  one 
of  the  conversions  was  owing  to  his  talents  or  elo- 
quence, but  all  to  the  prayers  of  an  illiterate  lay-broth- 
er who  sat  on  the  pulpit  steps,  pleading  all  the  time  for 
the  success  of  the  sermon. 

Some  two  years  ago  a  poor  woman  came  to  my 
vestry  in  deep  distress  because  her  husband  had  ab- 


TO   HELP   PREACHERS.  IIt- 

sconded.  When  her  tale  was  told  I  said:  "All  we  could 
do  was  to  kneel  and  cry  to  the  Lord  for  the  conversion 
of  your  husband."  We  knelt  and  prayed  and  when  we 
rose  I  bade  the  woman  not  to  fret  as  I  felt  sure  the 
deserter  would  return.  Some  months  later,  when  I 
had  forgotten  the  incident,  the  woman  came,  accompa- 
nied by  her  husband,  who  had  been  converted.  Inqui- 
ry showed  that  on  the  very  day  we  prayed  for  him; 
while  he  was  at  sea,  he  found  a  stray  copy  of  one  of  my 
sermons,  read  it,  and  was  converted.  As  soon  as  pos- 
sible, he  returned  to  his  wife  and  was  admitted  to 
the  church. 

I  sat  side  by  side  with  a  brother  minister  not  many 
days^ago,  who  remarked  to  me:  "I'm  afraid  many  of 
our  people  do  not  believe  in  prayer."  "Oh,  dear!"  I 
said,  "1  would  not  be  a  minister  of  such  a  church  five 
minutes." 

An  extract  from  an  interview  with  Spurgeon,  taken  from 
the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  is  to  the  effect  that  his  faith  in  the  effica- 
cy of  prayer  was  growing  stronger  and  firmer  than  ever. 

It  is  not  a  matter  of  faith  with  me,  but  of  knowl- 
edge and  everyday  experience.  I  am  constantly  wit- 
nessing the  most  unmistakable  answers  to  prayer. 
*  *  *  Look  at  my  orphanage.  To  keep  it  going  en- 
tails an  annual  expenditure  of  about  £10,000.  Only 
£1400  is  provided  by  endowment.  The  remaining 
£8000  comes  to  me  regularly  in  answer  to  prayer.  I 


XI6          PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

do  not  know  where  I  shall  get  it  from  day  to  day.     I 
ask  God  for  it  and  He  sends  it. 

LUTHER'S  BELIEF. 

Martin  Luther  is  often  quoted  by  -those  religionists  who 
discountenance  belief  in  miracles,  but  the  compiler  of  this  dic- 
tibnary  has  found  several  extracts  from  his  sayings  in  support 
of  a  belief  in  the  miraculous  answer  to  prayer.  Tholuck  is 
quoted  to  the  effect  that  at  the  time  the  diet  of  Nuremberg  was 
held,  Luther  was  praying  at  home.  At  the  very  hour  when 
the  edict  granting  free  toleration  to  Protestants  was  granted 
he  ran  out  of  his  house  crying  out:  "We  have  gained  the 
victory!" 

Anecdote  4253  tells  of  Luther's  prayers  prolonging  Melanc- 
thon's  life.  Melancthon  was  supposed  to  be  on  his  deathbed 
when  Luther  hastened  to  him  and  aroused  him  by  a  sorrowful 
exclamation,  when  Melancthon  begged  to  be  allowed  to  depart 
in  peace.  Luther  replied:  "We  can't  spare  you  yet,"  fell 
upon  his  knees  and  prayed  fervently  for  his  recovery.  He  then 
ordered  some  soup  and  bade  Melancthon  eat  it.  When  he  de^ 
clined  Luther  threatened  to  excommunicate  him.  '  Melanc- 
thon obeyed  and  recovered.  When  Luther  returned  home  he 
told  his  wife:  "God  gave  me  my  brother  Melancthon  back, 
in  direct  answer  to  my  prayers."  Luther  is  also  thus  quoted: 

Just  as  a  shoemaker  makes  a  shoe  or  a  tailor  a 
coat,  so  also  ought  the  Christian  to  pray.  The  Chris- 
tian's trade  is  praying,  and  the  prayer  of  the  church 
works  great  miracles.  In  our  day  it  has  raised  from 
the  dead  three  persons,  viz.:  myself,  having  been  fre- 


TO   HELP    PREACHBRS.  Ixy 

quently  sick  unto  death;  my  wife.  Catharine,  who  like- 
wise was  dangerously  ill,  and  Melancthon,  who  was 
sick  unto  death  at  Weimar.  And  though  their  rescue 
from  sickness  and  other  bodily  dangers  be  but  trifling 
miracles,  nevertheless  they  must  be  exhibited  for  the 
sake  of  those  whose  faith  is  weak. 

OTHER  AUTHORITIES. 

The  Christian  Age,  a  religious  paper,  is  credited  with  an- 
ecdote 4249.  It  tells  of  a  pastor  who  devoted  a  week  to  study- 
ing a  sermon,  which  suddenly,  on  Saturday,  "became  to  him 
stale  and  dry"  and  "instantly  another  text  lodged  into  his 
mind"  and  rapidly  ran  into  a  sermon  which  he  preached  Sun- 
day morning.  At  the  close  of  the  service  a  lady  remained  "to 
confer  with  the  session  of  the  church  respecting  a  profession  of 
faith."  She  belonged  to  a  Catholic  family,  but  the  light  re- 
ceived from  that  sermon  had  converted  her.  In  accounting 
for  the  change  of  sermon,  the  writer  in  the  Age  says  a  friend 
of  the  lady  had  been  praying  eleven  years  for  her  conversion 
and  that  on  the  Saturday  when  the  minister  made  the  change 
a  party  of  the  lady's  friends  had  "united  in  praying  that  the 
pastor  might  on  the  next  Sabbath  say  something  that  would 
meet  the  case  of  the  lady  who  was  expected  to  be  present  in 
the  church  on  that  morning." 

C.  T.  Harris  is  authority  for  the  story  that  a  pious  lady  in 
Hereford,  England,  while  praying  became  impressed  that  she 
ought  to  send  £50  to  a  Mr.  Bourne  "for  carrying  on  the  work 
of  the  Lord."  After  conferring  with  her  mother,  she  decided 
to  test  the  correctness  of  her  impression.  Her  brother  was 


Hg  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

dispatched  to  Bemersley  to  investigate.  In  an  interview  with 
Mr.  Bourne  he  asked  that  gentleman  if  he  had  been  praying 
for  ''anything  special."  Mr.  B.  promptly  responded:  "Yes, 
for  £50;  for  we  are  in  great  need  of  that  sum,"  which  was -giv- 
en him.  Mr.  Harris  seems  to  have  been  so  deeply  impressed 
with  this  miracle  that  he  forgot  to  say  in  what  branch  of  the 
Lord's  work  Mr.  Bourne  was  engaged.  He  seems  to  have  con- 
sidered Mr.  Bourne  and  his  work  to  be  too  well  known  to  have 
needed  description  or  explanation. 

Krummacher,  a  somewhat  celebrated  German  writer  on 
religious  subjects,  is  the  author  of  a  story  of  healing  through 
the  prayer  of  a  four-year-old  child.  The  child's  mother  was 
so  ill  that  the  doctors  had  given  her  up.  When  the  child  heard 
the  verdict  "she  went  into  an  adjoining  room,  knelt  down  and 
said:  'Dear  Lord  Jesus,  oh  make  mother  well  again.'  After 
she  had  thus  prayed  she  said,  as  though  in  God's  name,  'Yes, 
my  dear  child,  I  will  do  it  gladly.'  "  The  child  then  ran*  to 
her  mother  and  assured  her  she  would  get  well,  which  she  did. 
Upon  this  incident,  which  is  here  greatly  abbreviated  Krum- 
macher comments  thus: 

Is  it,  then,  always  permitted  for  me  to  pray  thus 

unconditionally  respecting  temporal  concerns?  No,  thou 

must  not  venture  to  do  so,  if  whilst  you  ask  you  doubt. 

From  Stephenson's  "Praying  and  Working"  is  quoted  a 
remark  of  one  who  stood  by  the  grave  of  Gossner  and  the  edit- 
or says  it  was  not  hyperbole,  viz.: 

He   prayed   up  the  walls   of  an   hospital   and   the 

hearts  of  the  nurses;    he  prayed   missionary  stations 


TO    HELP    PRKACHKIIS.  irg 

into  being  and  missionaries  into  faith;  he  prayed  open 

thp  hearts  of  the  rich  and  gold  from  the  most  distant 

lain 

Dr.  Liefchild  is  given  as  authority  for  a  case  in  which  a 
rhristian  traveling  in  Italy  heard  of  a  young  soldier  who  was 
condemned  to  be  shot  at  9  o'c.ock  of  the  morning  he  heard  of 
it  while  he  was  at  breakfast.  He  at  once  retired  to  pray  for 
the  soldier's  salvation;  that,  if  he  were  not  prepared  to  die, 
his  execution  might  be  postponed  until  he  should  repent.  While 
on  his  knees  the  Christian  heard  a  volley  and  was  soon  obliged 
to  hasten  from  the  town.  About  two  months  later  he  read  in 
a  paper  that,  though  that  volley  was  fired  at  the  condemned 
soldier,  not  a  bullet  took  effect.  So  miraculous  was  the  es- 
cape considered  that  his  pardon  was  granted. 

Archdeacon  Farrar  is  given  as  authority  for  this:  "More 
than  one  saint,  like  St.  Francis,  and  like  Wesley,  has  left  be- 
hind the  record  that  God  has  never  refused  him  anything  for 
which  he  sprionsly  prayed.  It  can  gain  for  us  everything,  not 
perhaps,  that,  we  wish,  but  everything  that  we  want." 

At  least  half  a  score  of  other  cases  of  answers  to  prayer 
are  given  in  this  book,  but  they  are  not  authenticated.  They 
include  rescue  of  vessels  from  destruction;  escape  from  death 
in  battle,  from  sharks,  the  raising  of  wind  to  turn  mills  when 
people  were  suffering  for  bread;  the  capture  of  a  negro  and  his 
wife  as  slaves  that  they  might  be  converted. 

That  these  anecdotes  have  been  employed  by  preachers,  is 
evinced  by  the  fact  that  the  volume  I  have  used  has  be«n  well 
thumbed  and  has  many  little  crosses  marked  against  para- 


J2Q          PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

graphs,  some  of  which  are  here  mentioned.  Though  I  have 
not  cited  all  of  the  cases  which  appear  miraculous,  it  is  a  lit- 
tle remarkable  that  only  two  paragraphs  about  miracles  are 
noted  in  the  index.  One  of  these  stories  is  attributed  to  Lu- 
ther as  exposing  a  fraud  and  the  other  is  a  remark  of  an  Ox- 
ford professor,  viz.:  ''If  you  believe  in  miracles  you  will  be 
nothing  better  and  if  3^011  do  not,  you  will  be  nothing  worse." 

Anecdote  4961  is  attributed  to  The  Hague  Tageblatti. 
(Newspaper,  date  not  given.)  It  tells  of  an  infidel  paper  manu- 
facturer who  said  he  would  have  machinery  work  Sundays  and 
weekdays  alike  and  make  more  money.  The  inauguration  of 
the  machinery  was  celebrated  by  a  feast  in  the  works,  during 
which  the  paper  maker  scoffingly  compared  his  boilers  to  hell. 
Almost  at  that  moment  the  boilers  exploded  and  killed  the 
scoffer. 

Thte  naturally  recalls  the  sensational  story  that  appears 
semi-periodically  in  American  newspapers  of  the  man  who  is 
stricken  dumb,  blind  or  deaf  for  blasphemous  revilings  when 
excessive  rain,  drouth  or  other  untoward  conditions  have  ru- 
ined his  ci'ops  or  otherwise  sent  accumulated  misfortunes  upon 
him.  These  stories  are  nearly  always  so  located  that  verifica- 
tion or  refutation  is  difficult,  hut  the  eagerness  with  which  they 
are  utilized  by  many  ministers  in  their  exhortations  is  abund- 
ant evidence  that  there  is  a  very  widespread  belief  in  so  much 
of  thrt  miraculous  as  suits  the  purposes  or  prejudices  of  those 
who  hear  marvelous  stories  like  these. 


CALIFORNIA  MIRACLES. 


A  PRKACHKK   MYSTERIOUSLY  SUPPLIED  WITH  MEANS 
TO  DEFEAT  AN  INFIDEL. 

Rev.  W.  H.  Briggs  is  a  minister  of  the  Christian  church 
who.  as  this  article  is  being  written,  is  being  written  about 
and  read  aboui.  as  the  minister  who  turned  street  railroad  con- 
ductor to  make  a  living  rather  than  whine  to  be  taken  back 
into  the  church  after  the  hand  of  fellowship  had  been  with- 
drawn. Mr.  Briggs  is  an  A.  M.,  and  has  lived  in  San  Joaquin 
county,  California,  since  childhood  and  during  most  of  his 
manhood  has  been  a  preacher  of  the  Christian  Church,  which  is 
generally  known  as  the  Campbellite. 

In  1883  he  was  challenged  to  discuss  with  Colonel  Kelso,  a 
well-known  resident  of  that  county  and  equally  well  known  as 
a  champion  of  Colonel  Robert  G.  Ingerscll's  views  of  religion. 
Briggs  accepted  without  hesitation,  but  felt  hardly  equal  to  the 
contest  as  Col.  Kelso  was  regarded  as  the  "boss  agnostic"  of 
that  region.  The  debates  were  to  be  held  at  two  points  in  the 
county,  one  of  which  was  generally  regarded  as  infidel  head- 
quarters. 

Briggs  was  not  as  well  equipped  for  the  debate  as  he  de- 
sired to  be.  He  had  never  read  more  than  fragments  of  In- 
gersoll's  lectures,  which  he  assumed  would  form  the  basis  of 
Col.  Kelso's  speeches.  He  found  it  impossible  to  send  away 
for  a  copy  of  any  of  his  lectures  and  prayed  earnestly  that  the 
Lord  would  furnish  him  the  information  by  some  means.  He 


122          PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

also  prayed  for  a  copy  of  the  works  of  Wilford  Hall,  a  noted 
Universalist  writer.  The  time  was  growing  short  for  answers 
to  his  prayers  when,  as  he  wa*s  driving  from  Clements  to  Brand 
House  one  dusty  day,  his  horse  shied  at  something  in  the  road 
and  as  he  passed  the  object  he  saw  it  was  a  book.  He  reined 
iu  his  horse  and  found  the  book  not  six  inches  from  the  track 
of  the  buggy  wheels.  It  was  brand  new  and  on  examination 
he  found  it  to  be  a  volume  of  Ingersoll's  lectures.  Who  lost 
it  h«>  never  could  discover  and  it  remained  long  in  his  library. 

The  next  Sunday  he  held  services  at  Woodbridge,  when  a 
young  lady,  who  is  now  the  wife  of  a  public  officer  of  San  Joa- 
quiri  county,  met  him  just  before  the  services  opened  and  hand- 
ed him  a  copy  of  Dr.  Hall's  work,  saying  her  father  thought  it 
would  be  of  use  to  him  in  the  forthcoming  debate.  He  had  not 
expressed  his  wish  for  either  of  these  works  to  any  mortal  and 
had  no  opportunity  of  communicating  them  to  anyone  in 
Woodbridge. 

Mr.  Briggs'  heart  was  greatly  lightened.  He  read  both 
works  and  if  the  testimony  of  those  who  heard  the  eight  days' 
debate  is  conclusive  evidence,  the  Lord  enabled  him  to  defeat 
his  agnostic  adversary.  The  Lord's  intervention  did  not  end 
with  the  furnishing  of  the  ammunition  for  the  debate.  It 
resulted  in  the  building  of  churches  at  Acampo  and  Elliott,  in 
San  Joaquin  county,  the  latter  place -having  been  regarded  as 
a  field  in  which  it  would  be  idle  to  hope  for  a  church.  Very 
naturally,  Mr.  Briggs  and  his  friends,  who  are  numerous 
throughout  San  Joaquin  and  neighboring  counties,  think  the 
Lord  wrought  at  least  three  miracles  in  connection  with  that 
debate. 


NON-RELIGIOUS   MIRACLES, 


MARVELOUS  WORKS  WHEREIN  PRAYER  OR  FAITH  HAD 
NO  PART. 

It  seems  astonishing  that  many  people  who  doubt  that  even 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  performed  the  miracles  attributed  to  him  in 
the  Gospels  are  very  ready  to  believe  accounts  of  healings  quite 
as  marvelous  when  performed  by  men  who  make  no  pretension 
to  being  reformers  or  even  to  religious  belief. 

Who  does  not  remember  or  has  not  heard  of  Dr.  Newton, 
who,  a  generation  ago,  traveled  all  over  the  United  States  and 
perhaps  Europe  also,  performing  instantaneous  cures  of  many 
forms  of  disease  and  "coining"  money  thereby.  He  was  not 
attacked  by  the  pulpit  or  the  press  because  he  did  not  try  to 
organize  a  new  sect,  and  he  did  pay  well  for  advertising. 

A  quarter  of  a  century  later  a  "Boy  Wonder"  made  tours 
of  the  wliole  country  on  a  like  mission.  He  was  widely  ad- 
vertised and  paid  handsomely  for  daily  "write-ups"  in  the 
daily  newspapers.  That  he  performed  astonishing  cures  there 
are  witnesses  in  nearly  every  town  and  city  he  visited.  He 
was  a  boy  when  he  set  out  in  his  career,  but  must  be  nearly 
thirty-five  years  old  now.  After  he  visited  the  Pacific  coast 
about  1894,  he  decided  to  remain  in  the  East  and  the  company 
of  which  he  was  the  star  found  another  boy  wonder  and,  with- 
out a  change  in  their  dead-wall,  show-paper  or  advertising, 
they  made  another  tour. 


124 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 


While  in  Stockton,  California,  they  heard  of  B.  M.  Hohen- 
sbell,  a  former  farmer,  who  discovered  in  young  manhood  that 
he  possessed  great  magnetic  powers  which  he  utilized  for  heal- 
ing the  sick,  but  Mr,  Hohenshell  declined  a  tempting  offer  to 
become  a  boy  wonder  abroad.  He  continued  his  practice  at 
home,  does  not  advertise  but  goes  about  his  work  much  as 
does  a  physician,  doing  all  the  good  he  can  in  a  modest  way, 
making  plenty  of  money  probably,  but  doing  a  vast  amount  of 
work  without  hope  of  pecuniary  reward.  He  believes  in  his 
power  and  uses  it  to  the  best  of  his  ability.  I  have  no  words 
except  those  of  commendation  for  him  though  I  do  not  know 
him  personally.  I  have  within  a  few  years  heard  much  of  his 
.almost  angelic  ministrations  and  honor  him  for  the  good  he 
has  done,  I  do  think  it  strange — passing  strange,  however, 
that  those  who  firmly  believe  in  "Barney"  HohensheH's  power 
should  disbelieve  the  evidence  of  their  own  eyes  and  ears  in 
the  form  of  friends  and  acquaintances  who  have  been  restored 
to  health  by  the  aid  of  Christian  Science  after  the  doctors  had 
given  them  up.  Beside  these  there  are  all  around  Mr.  Hohen- 
shell's home  many  who  were  given  up  to  die  by  the  drug-doc- 
tors within  from  one  to  three  months  and  who  turned  to  sci- 
ence and  have  survived,  now,  from  a  few  months  to  several 
years. 

Some  years  ago  the  London  Medical  Times  contained  an 
account  of  an  experiment  on  four  condemned  men  in  Russia. 
They  were  put  to  sleep  on  beds  whereon  victims  of  cholera  had 
died,  but  were  ignorant  of  the  fact.  After  ample  time  Demg 
given  for  the  dread  disease  to  develop  not  one  gave  any  symp- 


NON-RELIGIOUS  MIRACLES. 

ton-  of  the  plague.  They  were  subsequently  told  that  they 
must  sleep  on  beds  that  had  been  occupied  by  cholera  patients 
and.  though  the  beds  were  perfectly  clean  and  had  not  been 
so  occupied,  three  of  them  were  attacked  by  cholera  and  died 
within  four  hours. 

MIRACLE  OF  THE  MULE. 

One  of  the  most  widely  believed  notions  of  the  laws  of  nat- 
ure is  that  hybrids  are  barren.  So  firmly  fixed  is  this  idea 
that  efforts  to  test  its  truth  are  rare,  if  they  are  ever  made. 
The  idea  was  crystallized  by  "Josh  Billings,"  I  think,  in  his 
reference  to  a  temporary  political  party.  He  said  it  was  like 
a  mule  because  it  was  without  pride  of  ancestry  or  hope  of  pos- 
terity. It  is  a  well-established  fact,  however,  that  James 
Journeay  of  Stockton,  California,  is  the  owner  of  a  mule  mare 
that  bore  a  colt.  The  animal,  now  (1899)  about  seven  years 
old,  is  on  Mr.  Journeay's  ranch,  five  or  six  miles  from  Stockton. 
When  so  young  that  the  motherhood  of  the  mule  could  be 
demonstrated  by  her  suckling  the  colt,  both  mother  and  foal 
were  publicly  exhibited  on  the  plaza  or  Hunter-street  square 
in  Stockton  and  the  fact  is  susceptible  of  ample  proof. 

I  do  not  cite  this  well-attested  fact  as  evidence  that  a  mira- 
cle has  occurred  during  the  last  decade  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, but  to  show  that  not  all  of  nature's  laws  are  understood 
by  present  day  philosophers.  Though  Mr.  Journeay's  mule  is 
not  an  exceptional  animal  in  any  other  way,  she  is  such  an  ex- 
ception in  that  one  regard  as  to  break  the  supposed  rule  or  to 
show  that  to  supposed  laws  of  nature  there  can  be  exceptions 
which  by  no  means  prove  the  rule. 


126  PROTESTANT   MIRACLES. 

A  PHYSICAL  MIRACLE. 

In  a  recent  number  of  McClure's  Magazine  is  an  article  on 
the  new  power  derived  from  the  liquif action  of  air.  The 
accomplishment  of  this  liquefaction  would  have  been  pro- 
nounced a  miracle  by  most  scientists  as  late  as  the  noon  of  the 
present  century,  if  not  even  as  late  as  the  last  decade  thereof. 
The  article  shows  that  liquified  air  not  only  solves  the  supposed 
insoluble  problem  of  perpetual  motion,  but  actually  multiplies 
its  cwn  power  indefinitely  and  accomplishes  many  other  won- 
ders. The  discoverer  of  the  process  declares  that  it  will  solve 
the  problem  of  aerial  navigation  and  makes  his  opinion  appear 
very  plausible.  This  notice  of  the  discovery  and  its  wonders 
is  sufficient  for  my  purpose  here,  but  those  who  are  skeptical 
concerning  present  day  miracles  should  read  the  article  which 
appears  in  the  March  number  for  1899  of  McClure's. 
NEWSPAPER  MIRACLES. 

While  religious  as  well  as  secular  newspapers  either  dis- 
credit or  ignore  accounts  of  non-sensational  as  well  as  religious 
miracles,  they  both  employ  the  adjective  "miraculous"  to  de- 
scribe narrow  or  marvelous  escapes  from  death.  So  common 
is  the  habit  that  they  often  tell  their  readers  that  occurrences 
are  miracles  and  then  proceed  to  so  describe  them  that  every 
element  of  the  miraculous  is  eliminated.  That  this  is  but  a 
criticism  on  the  language  they  employ  I  admit  in  part,  but  not 
in  toto  and  especially  as  regards  the  religious  press  in  which 
it  is  comparatively  common  to  find  stories  of  answers  to 
prayers  and  events  that  are  properly  classifiable  as  miracles. 

I  have  recently  read  a  newspaper  story  of  the  mysterious 


NON-RELIGIOUS  MIRACLES. 

circulation  of  news  in  the  prison  at  Dannemora,  N.  Y.  This 
story  says  the  convicts  often  know  the  result  of  a  prize-fight 
or  other  "sporting"  event  before  the  officers  of  the  prison  know 
it,  though  every  effort  is  made  to  keep  the  news  from  reaching 
them.  It  also  says  the  convicts  know  when  executions  are  to 
take  place,  though  they  are  not  allowed  to  have  newspapers 
containing  the  news  and  every  means  is  employed  to  keep  them 
in  ignorance. 

This  naturally  recalls  the  accounts  of  missionaries  in  India 
who  first  told  the  world  of  the  mysterious  means  by  which  in- 
formation was  transmitted  by  natives  in  that  country  far  in 
advance  of  the  swiftest  means  known  to  the  whites.  During 
the  Sepoy  rebellion  in  that  country,  this  mysterious  power  was 
often  mentioned  and  respectable  British  authority  said  the  dis- 
aster at  Cawnpore  was  known  among  the  native  population  of 
the  cities  in  the  possession  of  the  British  long  before  the  swift- 
est horses  could  bear  couriers  with  reports  to  the  officials.  One 
writer,  cited  I  think  by  Lecky,  says  the  first  accounts  of  the 
disaster  were  received  from  Parsee  merchants. 


HYMNS  THAT  BETRAY. 


EXTRACTS   FROM    PETITIONS   IN    VERSE,   FOR   SPECIAL 
FAVORS  FROM  PROVIDENCE. 

If  Protestantism  has  rejected  the  miraculous  it  should  re- 
vise its  hymnology  to  suit  its  profession.  In  opening  a  little 
volume  of  Gospel  Hymns,  published  in  1883,  the  nrst  that  ar- 
rested my  nttention  was  that  beautiful  poem,  "Jesus  Lover  <jf 
My  Soul."  The  third  verse  is  a  refutation  of  the  pretense.  It 
reads; 

Thou,  O  Christ,  art  all  I  want; 
More  than  all  in  thee  I  find: 
liaise  the  fallen,  cheer  the  faint 

Heal  the  sick  and  lead  the  blind. 

Hymn  No.  90  of  the  same  volume,  which  is  a  compilation 
of  the  songs  used  by  Evangelist  Moody,  contains  this: 
I  leave  it.  all  with  Jesus. 

For  He  knows 
How  to  steal  the  bitter 

From  life's  woes; 
How  to  gil.d  the  tear-drop 

With  His  smile, 
Make  the  desert  garden 

Bloom  awhile. 
Number  107  of  these  hymns  is  a  rhyming  version  of  that 


HYMNS  THAT  BETRAY.  I 

sublime  poem  Psalm  xxiii,  which  promises  many  earthly  bless- 
ings and  immunities.  This  may  be  said  to  be  so  strictly  poet- 
ical as  not  to  constitute  a  basis  for  a  valid  argument,  but  if  it  is 
to  be  so  regarded  then  Holy  Writ  must  be  at  least  half  repudi- 
ated while  the  poem  is  taught  and  will  probably  always  be 
taught  in  the  Sunday  schools  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  religious 
gems. 

Who  that  ever  read  Newman's  "Lead,  Kindly  Light"  doubt- 
ed that  it  was  a  prayer  for  inspiration?  After  it  had  been  ban- 
ished from  the  hymnals  of  the  Anglican  church  for  many  years 
after  the  author  became  a  Catholic,  it  has  reappeared  and  can 
now  be  found  in  the  books  of  nearly  all  denominations. 

The  hymnal  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church  in  the 
United  States,  of  1874,  approved  by  the  general  convention  of 
that  church  in  the  same  year,  contains  hymns  of  which  the 
following  are  extracts: 

No.  264 — Star  of  hope,  gleam  on  the  billow, 
Bless  the  soul  that  sighs  for  thee, 

Bless  the  sailor's  lonely  pillow, 

Far,  far  at  sea. 
No.  267 — Eternal  Father!  strong  to  save, 

Whose  arm  hath  bound  the  restless  wave, 

Who  bid'st  the  mighty  ocean  deep 

Its  own  appointed  limits  keep; 

Oh  hear  us  when  we  cry  to  thee 

For  those  in  peril  on  the  sea. 
No.  269 — To  Thee  I  raised  my  humble  prayer 
To  snatch  me  from  the  grave; 


PROTESTANT   MIRACLES. 

I  found  Thine  ear  not  slow  to  hear 

Nor  short  Thine  arm  to  save. 

These  are  all  for  help  to  those  who  go  down  to  the  sea  in 
ships,  but  there  are  others  that  pray  for  divine  inspiration, 
help,  etc.  The  following  are  from  hymns  on  the  ordination  of 
ministers: 

No.  270 — Lord,  pour  Thy  Spirit  from  on  high, 

And  Thine  ordained  servants  bless; 
Graces  and  gifts  to  each  supply, 

And  clothe  Thy  priests  with  righteousness. 
No.  271 — Clothe  then,  with  energy  divine 

Their  words  and  let  those  words  be  Thine; 
To  them  Thy  sacred  truth  reveal, 
Suppress  their  fear,  inflame  their  zeal. 
Verse  3  of  hymn  254  reads: 

Choose  Thou  for  me  my  friends, 

My  sickness  or  my  health; 
Choose  Thou  my  cares  for  me, 

My  poverty  or  wealth. 
Not  mine,  not  mine  the  choice, 

In  things  or  great  or  small 
Be  Thou  my  guide,  niy  strength, 

My  wisdom  and  my  all. 

Hymn  No.  249,  under  the  head  of  "Visitation  of  the  Sick/' 
bids  the  patient  cast  aside  fear,  assures  him  that  the  Lord  will 
provide.  The  fourth  verse  reads: 

Did  ever  trouble  yet  befall, 
And  He  refuse  to  hear  thy  call? 


HYMNS   THAT   BETRAY. 


And  has  He  not  His  promise  past 
That  thou  shalt  overcome  at  last? 

It  will  strike  the  student  of  Christian  Science  that  those 
who  have  endorsed  this  or  who  adhere  to  a  church  of  whose 
service  it  is  a  part,  are  estopped  from  denouncing  prayer  cure, 
faith  cure,  or  any  other  form  of  healing  in  which  prayer  is  even 
a  part. 

As  the  Moody  hymns  represent  all  whom  the  Episcopal 
people  group  under  the  general  head  of  "the  sects,"  I  do  not 
care  to  quote  more  copiously  from  their  hymns.  I  have  quot- 
ed more  freely  from  the  Anglican  book  because  it  represents 
a  church  that  has  been  most  conspicuous  in  past  years  for  its 
attack  upon  the  miraculous. 

In  a  collection  of  hymns  compiled  in  1885  by  C.  C.  Cline 
and  published  in  Covington,  Ky.,  No.  8  contains  this  as  verse  4: 
Comfort  those  who  weep  and  mourn; 
Let  the  time  of  joy  return; 
Those  that  are  cast  down  lift  up; 
Make  them  strong  in  faith  and  hope. 

No.  62,  by  Isaac  Watts,  whose  orthodoxy  will  not  be  dis- 
puted, contains  this  verse: 

He  pardons  all  thy  sins, 

Prolongs  thy  feeble  breath; 
He  healeth  thine  infirmities 

And  ransoms  thee  from  death. 

The  ''Illustrated  History  of  Hymns,"  by  Rev.  Edwin  M. 
Long,  author  of  several  hymns,  contains  much  that  teaches 
what  some  Protestants  deny.  One  story,  which  I  found  on 


PROTESTANT   MIRACLES. 

opening  the  book,  is  on  page  449  and  is  in  brief  this:  In  1826 
five  missionaries,  the  wives  of  three  and  several  children  were 
in  a  wreck  off  the  coast  of  Antigua.  When  the  storm  arose 
the  little  son  of  one  of  the  missionaries  gave  out  a  verse  of  a 
hymn  commencing: 

"Though  waves  and  storms  go  o'er  my  head." 
and  when  it  had  been  sung  the  child  delivered  ah  address  on 
the  shipwreck  of  Jonah  and  the  author  says  a  holy  inspiration 
come  over  the  child  and  affected  all  who  heard  him. 

The  wife  of  one  of  the  missionaries  was  the  only  one 
who  was  calm  enough  to  pray  and  when  she  had  done  so  she 
sang: 

When  passing  through  the  watery  deep 

I  asked  in  faith  his  promised  aid, 
The  waves  an  awful  distance  keep 

And  shrink  from  my  devoted  head. 
Fearless  their  violence  I  dare 

They  cannot  harm  for  God  is  there. 

Sad  to  say,  she  was  the  only  one  saved  out  of  that  party. 
On  pages  303,  304  and  305  is  the  story  of  George  Neumark,  who 
was  reduced  to  such  dire  straits  in  Hamburg  in  1651  that  he 
had  to  pawn  his  violincello,  which  had  been  his  chief  means 
•of  supporting  life.  Before  parting  with  it  he  improvised  a 
hymn  and  accompanied  his  voice  on  the  instrument,  in  the 
pawnbroker's  house.  A  passer-by  was  charmed  with  the  sen-  • 
liment  and  music  and  sought  a  copy.  When  Neumark  had  ac- 
.commodated  him  the  stranger  took  him  to  his  master,  the 
Swedish  embassador,  who  made  him  his  secretary.  His  grat- 


HYMNS  THAT  BETRAY. 

itude   to  God   for    this    interposition  he  put  in  the  form  of  a 
hymn,  one  verse  of  which  is: 

Leave  God  to  order  all  thv  ways 

«, 

And  hope  in  Him  whate'er  betide, 
Thou'lt  find  him  in  the  evil  days, 

Thine  all  sufficient  strength  and  guide. 
Who  trusts  in  Go-d's  unchanging  love, 
Builds  on  the  rock  that  ne'er  can  move. 
When  asked   if  this   was  his  own  composition,   Neumark 
answered-      "Well,  yes.     I  am  the  instrument,  but  God  swept 
the  strings ." 

This  book  contains  over  600  pages  and  is  replete  with  anec- 
dotes and  extracts  from  hymns  in  which  the  miraculous 
abounds.  If  these  hymns  and  these  anecdotes  do  not  teach 
that  the  age  of  miracles  has  been  extended  to  the  gloaming  of 
the  nineteenth  century  and  the  dawn  of  the  twentieth,  what 
do  they  mean?  If  those  who  wrote  the  hymns  and  related  the 
anecdotes  do  not  mean  that  they  believe  God  sets  aside  known 
laws  or  grants  prayer  by  the  operation  of  laws  unknown  to 
man  they  mean  worse  than  nothing.  If  they  do  not  believe  in 
what  is  called  the  miraculous  they  are  confessedly  false 
teachers  who  are  taking  the  name  of  God  in  vain — uttering 
blasphemy  by  praying  God  for  favors  they  do  not  believe  He 
will  grant.  I  prefer  to  believe  the  best  of  the  authors  of  both 
hymns  and  anecdotes  and  to  also  believe  that  those  who  at- 
tack Christian  Science,  on  the  assumed  ground  that  the  age  of 
miracles  is  past,  are  endeavoring  to  obtain  religious  advan- 
tages on  false  pretenses.  This  is  a  serious  charge,  as  I  make 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

it,  because  in  the  school  of  ethics  in  which  I  was  trained  it  is 
blasphemous  in  employing  sin  to  further  the  cause  of  religion. 

I  acquit  these  zealous  brethren  of  willful  hypocrisy,  remember- 

/. 
ing  that  there  are,  according    to    Robert    Colyer,    the    great 

Unitarian,  I  think,  two  classes  of  hypocrites,  the  conscious 
and  the  unconscious.  It  will  remain  for  any  of  the  attacking 
party  to  adjust  to  himself  the  accusation  of  willful  hypocrisy 
by  persisting  in  attacks  after  his  attention  has  been  directed 
to  his  own  error. 


MISCELLANEOUS  MYSTERIES. 

A  COLLECTION  OF  MARVELS  THAT  RANGE  FROM  THE 
SUBLIME  TO  THE  ABSURD. 

Some  of  the  marvels  grouped  under  this  head  may  not  be 
properly  classed  as  Protestant,  but  all  or  nearly  all  indicate 
some  degree  of  Protestant  belief  in  present  supernatural  aid 
to  man. 

Dr.  Edward  Berdoe  has  an  article  in  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury of  October,  1895,  descriptive  of  a  visit  to  the  grotto  of 
Lourdes.  He  says: 

This  earnestness  on  the  part  of  the  worshipers,  if 
it  do  not  take  heaven  by  storm,  exalts  the  whole  or- 
ganism and  serves,  of  itself,  to  explain  much    of    the 
thaumaturgy. 
He  also  says: 

As  Christianity  has  no  monopoly  of  faith  healing, 
we  may  imagine  what  it  is  which  underlies  all  these 
phenomena.  To  set  them  aside  as  silly  talk  and  priest- 
ly frauds  is  to  betray  the  non-scientific  mind.  So  uni- 
versal a  thaumaturgy  implies  a  basis  of  fact  which  we 
must  not  despise.  Professor  Charcot  has  lent  the  great 
weight  of  his  authority  to  the  statement  that  faith-cure 
is  an  ideal  method,  since  it  of  tens  attains  its  end  after 
all  other  means  have  failed. 
Dr.  Berdoe  then  cites  M.  Littre  in  "Fragment  de  Medicine 


g  PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

Retrospective/'  where  he  describes  seven  miracles  wrought  at 
the  tomb  of  St.  Louis  and  atempts  to  give  a  pathological  inter- 
pretation of  them,  which  Dr.  Berdoe  does  not  expressly  en- 
dorse. He  closes  his  article  by  saying  that  the  scientific  view 
of  miracles  of  healing  is  no  detraction  from  the  power  of 
prayer:  "God  ever  works  by  natural  laws;  we  use  the  word 
'miracles'  for  the  effect  of  natural  laws  which  we  do  not  un- 
derstand." His  closing  lines  are  these: 

If  the  cure  be  wrought,  what  matters  it  to  the 
happy  invalid  who,  like  Marie  in  M.  Zola's  novel, 
jumps  from  her  wheel  chair  and,  trailing  it  behind  her, 
joins  the  procession  of  thanksgivers — whether  the 
cure  is  wrought  by  the  touch  of  a  divine  hand  or  the 
overpowering  influence  of  a  great  idea  on  the  nervous 
system, 

BOEHME'S  MYSTICISM. 

Though  mysticism  and  miracle-ism  are  not  identical,  they 
are  nearly  so  in  some  cases.  Jacob  Boehme,  the  German  mys- 
tic writer  of  the  seventeenth  century,  did  not  pretend  to  per- 
form miracles  but  to  have  witnessed  many,  and  the  fact  that 
he  had  a  large  following  among  even  well  educated  non-Catho- 
lics, shows  that  Protestants  in  Germany  were  not  unanimous 
in  the  opinion  that  miracles  were  things  of  a  past  age.  Even  in 
England  he  had  followers  and  his  writings  were  translated  by 
William  Law,  an  eminent  English  clergyman.  Law  was  an 
author  of  the  so-called  mystic  school  of  his  day  but,  though 
discountenanced  by  the  established  church,  the  Wesley 
brothers  acknowledge  that  they  derived  great  benefit  from  his 
"Serious  Call  to  a  Devout  and  Holy  Life." 


MISCELLANEOUS  MYSTERIES.  r  -,  j 

A  biography  of  Boehme,  translated  by  Franz  Hartmann, 
M.  D.,  and  published  in  1891  in  London,  shows  that  Boehme, 
while  a  herder  of  cattle  in  his  boyhood,  had  been  guided  by  a 
vision  to  a  cave  where  he  found  a  pot  of  gold.  Deeming  the 
gold  and  the  vision  the  result  of  a  satanic  plot,  he  fled  without 
the  treasure.  A  few  years  later,  while  an  apprentice  to  a  shoe- 
maker, a  mysterious -stranger  appeared  to  him,  paid  an  extra- 
ordinary price  for  a  pair  of  shoes,  called  him  by  name  and  re- 
vealed to  him  his  future  greatness,  and  admonished  him  to 
read  the  Bible,  in  which  he  would  find  comfort.  He  continued 
to  have  visions  and,  between  1612  and  1624,  he  wrote  many 
books  describing  what  he  saw  in  those  visions. 
EVIDENCE  OF  MIRACLES. 

Bishop  Douglas  of  the  Church  of  England  is  quoted  by  a 
writer  in  Blackwood's  Magazine  for  November,  1823,  as  to  the 
rules  respecting  the  evidence  of  miracles.  They  are  only  two 
in  number,  but  the  explanation  is  somewhat  lengthy  and  the 
rules,  etc.,  are  here  presented: 

1.  That  whenever  a  fact  can  be  ascribed,  however 
remotely,  to  natural  causes,  any  reference    to   Divine 
interposition  is  absolutely  excluded. 

2.  Whenever  the  testimony  affords  ground  even 
for   a    suspicion  of  fraud,  it  must  be  rejected  entirely 
and  at  once. 

A  suspicion  of  fraud  is  entertained: 

1.  If  the  accounts  of  the  alleged  miracles  were  not 
published  to  the  world  till  long  after   the   time  when 
they  are  said  to  have  been  performed. 

2.  If  the  accounts-  were  published    at   a    distance 


PROTESTANT   MIRACLES. 


from  the  place  where  the  miraculous  agency  was  sup- 
posed to  be  manifested. 

3.  If  at  the  time  when  and  the  place  where  they 
are  said  to  have  happened,  they  have  been  suffered  to 
pass  without  due  examination. 

AS  TO  INSPIRATION. 

inspiration  is  a  word  over  whose  meaning  a  vast  amount 
has  been  written.  It  is  employed  here  in  the  sense  of  an  extra- 
ordinary or  divine  agency  by  which  God  operates  on  the  minda 
of  teachers,  speakers  and  writers,  who  are  thus  taught  or 
guided  how  to  teach,  speak  and  write.  This  I  find  to  be  the 
sense  in  which  the  term  is  employed  by  people  who  attribute 
to  certain  preachers  or  religious  teachers  more  than  human 
power  or  wisdom. 

Inspiration  is  a  difficult  term  to  define.  The  definition  of 
the  dictionaries  will  hardly  do,  because  nearly  every  religious 
body  gives  to  it  a  little  different  meaning.  Some  regard  a 
preacher  as  inspired  when  he  becomes  excited  and  gives  ex- 
pression to  unusual  ideas;  some  regard  the  authors  of  new 
doctrine  and  dogma  as  inspired;  some  so  regard  a  person  who 
feels  impelled  to  undertake  any  religious  or  philanthropic  work 
and  brings  to  his  aid  such  zeal  and  enthusiasm  as  awakens  like 
zeal  and  enthusiasm  as  well  as  liberality  in  others.  While 
these  variations  of  definitions  do  not  vary  so  widely  as  to  be  in- 
consistent, they  serve  to  illustrate  the  latitude  taken  by  those 
who  use  the  word  in  application  to  the  talents  or  deeds  of  those 
whom  they  admire  or  whose  cause  they  espouse.  It  seems  not 
to  make  much  difference  whether  the  person  thus  regarded,  as 
inspired  be  poet,  patriot,  preacher,  soldier,  explorer  or  mere 


MISCELLANEOUS  MYSTERIES. 

politician.  If  he  acts  or  speaks  with  fervor  on  "my**  side  he 
is  inspired;  if  on  the  other,  "he  hath  a  devil."  In  either  case 
the  mere  notion  of  inspiration  is  the  same.  The  only  difference 
of  opinion  is  as  to  the  source. 

Thousands  regarded  Wesley  as  inspired  and  the  thousands 
have  grown  into  millions  in  the  present  century.  Within  the 
memory  of  living  men,  women  and  children,  Moody,  Ham- 
mond, Fay  Mills  and  others  have  been  or  are  regarded  as  in- 
spired, yet  followers  of  each  think  Mrs.  Mary  B.  Eddy  impious 
because  they  say  she  believes  her  discovery  of  Christian  Science 
a  revelation  or  the  result  of  inspiration.  Mrs.  Eddy  makes  no 
claim  to  any  inspiration  that  might  not  come  to  any  person 
who  would  undertake  and  pursue  a  course  of  study  such  as  she 
underwent  in  her  search  for  light  on  the  power  that  healed 
her. 

SPECIOUS  ORTHODOX  REASONING. 

A  fair  example  of  the  reasoning  on  which  is  based  the  as- 
sumption that  the  age  of  miracles  ceased  with  the  lives  of  the 
apostles,  is  found  in  Rev.  Richard  Watson's  Biblical  and  Theo- 
logical Dictionary,  London,  1861.  In  that  work  the  age  of  mira- 
cles is  regarded  as  having  closed,  with  the  second  century.  The 
argument  is  substantially  this:  Peter  and  Paul  died  between 
the  years  66  and  67  of  our  era  and  John  about  the  close  of  the 
first  century.  They  may  have  imparted  the  gift  of  working 
miracles  to  others  who  may  have  survived  to  the  end  of  the 
century  and  that  the  gift  was  not  renewed  by  its  "blessed 
aAithor." 

The  defect  of  this  reasoning  is  plain.  It  is  reasoning  only 
so  far  as  the  transmission  by  the  three  apostles  named  are 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

concerned.  From  that  point  it  is  pure  assumption  that  the 
successors  did  not  and  could  not  convey  to  others  what  had 
been  conveyed  to  them. 

THE  PRAYER  GAUGE. 

Some  twenty-five  years  ago  Prof.  Tyndall  proposed  a 
prayer  test  which  was  at  the  time  made  the  subject  of  much 
newspaper  joking  as  the  "prayer  gauge."  Tyndall  proposed 
that  a  certain  number  of  sick  persons  be  selected  as  subjects 
of  prayer  for  recovery  of  health  and  that  the  number  who  re- 
covered, under  certain  conditions,  should  be  regarded  as  show- 
ing the  efficacy  or  idleness  of  prayer. 

Among  those  who  took  serious  notice  of  this  challenge 
was  Rev.  R.  L.  Dabney,  Professor  of  Divinity  in  the  Union 
Theological  Seminary  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  South 
and  subsequently  of  the  University  of  Texas.  Prof.  Dabney  de- 
votes a  somewhat  lengthy  chapter  to  Tyndall's  taunt,  in  which 
he  shows  that  his  church  believes  that  prayers  are  answered 
and  the  blessings  prayed  for  are  granted  if  the  petitioner  does 
not  "ask  amiss." 

SHAKER  MARVELS. 

P.  W.  Evans  is  the  author  of  a  history  of  the  Shakers  in 
which  several  miraculous  occurrences  are  recorded.  As  Shakers 
are  not  regarded  as  Evangelical  Christians,  to  quote  their 
miracles  would  not  be  fair  in  this  work  if  they  had  not  the  en- 
dorsement of 'orthodox  Protestants.  This  endorsement  was 
strikingly  given  in  the  case  of  "Mother"  Ann  Lee,  when  ar- 
raigned for  blasphemy  in  England.  She  was  brought  before 
four  ministers  of  the  established  church  on  this  charge  and  at 
their  request  spoke  for  four  hours  in  foreign  tongues.  The 


MISCELLANEOUS  MYSTERIES. 

clergymen  were  learned  linguists  and  declared  that  she 
employed  during  those  four  hours  seventy-two  different 
tongues  or  dialects.  The  little  volume  from  which  this  is  taken 
is  full  of  stories  of  miraculous  happenings  but,  as  they  all  rest 
on  Shaker  evidence,  they  are  not  cited. 

One  is  so  remarkable,  however,  that  it  is  given  for  quantity. 
Evans  says  after  the  ministers  had  released  Mother  Ann  and 
those  who  were  arraigned  with  her  the  mob  of  ostensible 
Christians  took  them  to  a  convenient  spot  and,  having  pro- 
vided themselves  with  stones,  they  began  pelting  the  Shakers. 
Though  within  easy  range  and  the  mob  large,  the  stones  fell 
harmlessly  around  the  prisoners,  not  one  of  whom  was  hit 
Some  of  the  mob  were  terror  stricken  and  fled  at  beholding 
the  miracle  and  the  rest  slunk  away. 

CREDULITY  OF  SKEPTICS. 

It  may  seem  foreign  to  this  work  to  mention  the  story  of 
Heinrich  Hensoldt,  Ph.  D.,  of  his  visit  to  the  Grand  Lama  of 
Thibet.  He  tells  it  in  the  October  Arena  for  1894.  It  is  only 
apropos  of  the  credulity  of  the  incredulous;  of  those  who  are 
skeptical  on  all  subjects  except  their  peculiar  fads.  Hensoldt's 
story  is,  in  brief,  that  he  found  the  "incarnate  Buddha"  to  be 
a  boy  apparently  about  eight  years  old,  "certainly  not  over 
nine,"  and  he  describes  him  as  of  wonderful  beauty  and  intel- 
ligence. He  continues: 

The  Dalai  Lama's  gaze  was  that  of  an  adept  of  the 
highest  order,  and  as  I  encountered  those  wonderful 
eyes  I  knew  and  felt  that  I  was  in  the  presence  of  one 
who  could  read  my  innermost  thoughts.  He  addressed 
me  in  my  native  German  and  moreover  in  a  dialect 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

which  I  had  not  heard  for  many  years  and  which  he 
could  not  have  acquired  by  any  process  known  to  or- 
dinary mortals.  This  is  all  the  more  remarkable  when 
it  is  considered  that  I  had  taken  special  precautions  to 
conceal  my  nationality. 

This  is  enough  of  Dr.  Hensoldt's  wonderful  tale,  which 
occupies  not  only  several  pages  in  the  number  here  given,  but 
extends  into  other  numbers  of  the  magazine.  It  is  somewhat 
remarkable  that  nobody  has  to  this  day  questioned  Hensoldt's 
veracity  in  any  publication  that  I  have  been  able  to  see. 

THE  LORD  PROVIDED. 

Members  of  the  Christian  Church,  commonly  called 
'Campbellite,"  will  recall  the  case  of  John  Smith,  one  of  their 
early  missionary  preachers  in  what  is  now  the  Central  West. 
He  told  of  his  reaching  Campbell's  Ferry,  in  Kentucky,  I 
think,  without  money  with  which  to  pay  for  carrying  himself 
and  his  horse  across  the  river.  While  he  was  meditating  what 
kind  of  appeal  he  could  make  to  the  ferryman,  a  woman  came 
down  a  by-path,  approached  him,  handed  him  a  silver  quarter 
dollar  without  a  word  of  explanation  and  retired  as  silently  as 
she  came. 

I  have  been  unable  to  find  this  anecdote  in  print,  but  I 
have  heard  it  so  often  that  I  assume  it  to  be  familiar  to  all  the 
disciples  of  Alexander  Campbell  and  that  some  of  them  have 
the  verified  form  of  the  story.  Smith  always  said  that  the 
Lord  provided  that  quarter  because  he  was  informed  that  the 
ferryman  hated  preachers  in  general  and  Campbellites  in  par- 
ticular and  wouldn't  have  ferried  him  without  the  cash. 


MISCELLANEOUS  MYSTERIES.  j  .- 

DICTATION  TO  OMNIPOTENCE. 

J.  Boyd  Kinnear,  who  is  a  sufficiently  respectable  writer  to 
have  his  matter  printed  in  the  Contemporary  Review  of  De- 
cember, 1879,  Vol.  XXXVI,  page  625,  said  regarding  miracu- 
lous healing: 

It  cannot  be  a  breach  of  natural  laws  if  God  should 

effect  it  (cure)  by  any  laws  as  yet  unknown  to  man, 

provided  they  are  brought    into   play   with    no   other 

agency  than  the  motion  of  matter. 

This  is  not  quoted  here  for  its  logic,  but  to  show  that  be- 
lievers in  orthodoxy,  in  which  class  Mr.  Kinnear  appears  to  be, 
did  not  all  discredit  miraculous  healing.  Mr.  Kinnear's  logic 
is  principally  remarkable  for  its  absence  in  his  attempt  to  dic- 
tate to  omnipotence  that  He  must  work  according  to  his  (Kin- 
near's) specifications  and  confine  himself  to  the  "agency  of 
the  motion  of  matter."  After  thus  attempting  to  limit  the  in- 
finite, Mr.  Kiunear  enters  upon  an  extensive  argument  to  show 
that  the  physical  miracles  of  the  Bible  were  all  performed  in 
harmony  with  laws  not  yet  discovered  by  man. 
DISBELIEF  AS  ATHEISM. 

James  Gairdner,  who  is  presumably  an  orthodox  minister, 
says  in  the  Contemporary  Review  for  June,  1876: 

They  who  do  not  believe    in    a    direct    personal 

agency  in  the  ordinary  uniformity  can  hardly  be  said 

to  have  any  genuine  belief  in  God,  at  all. 

This  is  said  in  reply  to  a  Dr.  Carpenter,  who,  in  the  Janu- 
ary number  of  the  same  periodical,  attempted  to  explain  away 
all  supernatural  agency  in  what  are  considered  miracles.  Mr. 
Gairdner  asks: 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

Is  it  more  superstitious  to  speak  of  certain  phe- 
nomena, which  none  of  us  can  understand,  as  cases  of 
"demoniacal  possession"  than  to  call  them  lunacy? 

WOULD  PILLORY  HUME. 

David  Hume,  in  giving  reasons  to  a  friend  why  he  wrote 
his  essay  on  miracles,  says  the  idea  occurred  to  him  while 
conversing  with  a  Jesuit  at  the  college  of  La  Pleche,  in  France. 
The  Jesuit  having  told  of  a  recent  miracle,  Hume  disputed  him. 
To  his  argument  the  Jesuit  replied  that  it  could  have  no  solid- 
ity because  it  operated  as  much  against  the  Gospels  as  the 
miracle.  This  conversation  led  to  a  train  of  thought,  of  which 
the  essay  was  the  result. 

That  the  essay  was  regarded  as  of  peculiar  force  is  evident 
from  an  extract  from  Bishop  Warburton's  "railings,"  as  an 
eminent  prelate  of  the  Church  of  England  characterized  them. 
Warburton  said  he  was  minded  to  "do  justice  to  his  arguments 
against  miracles."  What  his  idea  of  justice  was  may  be  judged 
from  this,  which  follows  closely  on  the  words  above  quoted: 

But  does  he  deserve  this  notice?  Is  he  known 
amongst  you?  If  his  own  weight  keeps  him  down  I 
should  be  sorry  to  contribute  to  his  advancement  ex- 
cept to  the  pillory. 

What  the  essay  was  may  be  further  inferred  from  the  fact 
that  it  is  difficult,  according  to  apparently  good  authority,  to 
find  an  edition  of  Hume's  essays  in  England,  from  which  that 
essay  has  not  been  omitted,  though  all  good  libraries  in  the 
United  States  contain  unexpurgated  editions.  This  opposition 
from  people  who  scoiited  the  idea  that  miracles  were  possible 


MISCELLANEOUS  MYSTERIES. 

in  their  own  day  serves  to  show  that  their  absurdity  was  as 
great  as  their  intolerance. 

A  MORAVIAN  EXAMPLE. 

"Tales  and  Sketches  of  Christian  Life  in  Different  Lands 
and  Ages"  is  the  lengthy  title  to  a  small  volume  by  Mrs.  E. 
Charles,  author  of  "The  Schonberg-Cotta  Family"  and  other 
semi-religious  works.  It  depicts  the  rise  of  the  sect  known  as 
United  Brethren  or  Maravians.  That  part  of  the  book  opens 
with  a  conversation  between  Brother  Gregory,  the  head  of  the 
sect  in  Bohemia,  nearly  forty  years  after  the  martyrdom  of 
John  Huss  and  his  uncle,  John  Rockyzan,  a  secret  leader  of 
the  same,  though  he  was,  by  the  choice  of  the  people,  arch- 
bishop of  Prague,  Bohemia,  but  unconfirmed  by  the  Pope. 
Rockyzan  desire?  to  remain  in  the  church  the  better  to  help 
the  Brethren,  but  Gregory  argues: 

We  have  no  resource  but  to  recognize  those 
amongst  us  whom  God  has  endowed  with  gifts  of  gov- 
erning and  teaching  and  to  trust  Him  for  the  result. 
Our  high-priest,  our  master,  our  bishop,  our  chief,  is 
none  else  than  the  living  Son  of  God;  our  canons  His 
Word:  our  guide  and  counselor  the  Eternal  Spirit. 

Mrs.  Charles'  works  were  all  apparently  written  for  the 
entertainment  and  instruction  of  youth.  Though  they  do  not 
contain  much  in  the  way  of  stories  of  the  miraculous,  they  con- 
tain ir.uch  that  tends  to  teach  Divine  interposition  in  favor 
of  man  for  what  appear  to  be  rewards  of  righteousness  or  the 
promotion  of  pious  purposes. 

Mrs.  Charles'  works  ai e  by  no  means  singular  in  this  re- 


146 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 


gard.  Juvenile  literature  intended  for  propagation  of  faith 
generally  contains  so  much  that  is  miraculous  in  its  nature 
that  it  became  a  by- word  among  scoffers  in  the  form  of  jests 
about  the  wicked  boy  contradicting  the  books  by  escaping  all 
manner  of  perils  while  violating  the  Sabbath,  while  the  vir- 
tuous boy  of  the  Sunday  school  books  always  died  young. 


VARIED  MARVELS. 

TJNCLASSED   WONDERS    TAKEN   FROM    THE   WRITINGS 
OF  PIOUS  PROTESTANTS  AND  OTHER  AUTHORITIES, 

In  "Modern  Doubt  and  Christian  Belief"  Dr.  Christlieb,  Who 
is  described  elsewhere,  relates  an  account  of  miracles  that 
may  almost  be  called  modern.  Dr.  Christlieb  tells  of  Hans 
Egede,  the  first  evangelical  missionary  to  Greenland,  healing 
several  natives,  of  grievous  ailments,  by  miraculous  means. 
He  also  cites,  on  a  page  close  to  that  containing  the  Green- 
land story,  instances  of  the  miraculous  provision  for  two  mis- 
sionaries in  North  America,  Spangenberg  and  Zeisgeber.  They 
were  nearly  famished  while  traveling  through  a  wilderness, 
when  they  came  to  a  clear  stream. 

Spangenberg  bade  his  companion  get  out  the  fishing  tackle 
and  cast  a  line  into  the  stream.  Zeisgeber  reminded  him  that 
it  was  the  season  when  the  fis-h  had  gone  seaward  and  pointed 
to  the  water,  in  which  not  a  fish  was  visible.  Spangenberg 
told  him  to  proceed,  nevertheless,  and  he  obeyed.  The  result 
was  so  successful  that  it  is  compared  to  the  miraculous  draft 
of  fish  in  the  gospel. 

Christlieb  also  quotes  from  a  memoir  of  Kleinschmidt, 
published  in  lSt>6,  an  incident  of  a  Christian  convert  in  South 
Africa,  who,  in  1858,  instantly  healed  a  comrade  who  was  so 
wounded  in  both  legs  that  he  could  not  walk.  The  convert 


148 


PROTESTANT   MIRACLES. 


bade  him,  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  to  arise  and  walk,  which  the 
cripple  instantly  did. 

Orthodox  writers,  as  a  rule,  seem  to  have  ignored  all  mod- 
ern miracles.  Ecclesiastical  authority  having  once  taken  the 
ground  that  the  age  of  miracles  had  passed,  the  majority  of 
writers  and  lecturers  seem  to  have  bowed  to  the  dogma  and 
closed  their  eyes  to  what  seem  to  be  well  authenticated  facts. 
When  one  contemplates  the  studious  efforts  of  even  eminent 
theological  teachers  and  historians  to  suppress  facts  which,  to- 
say  the  least  in  their  support,  are  as  well  authenticated  as  the 
Gospels,  it  is  no  wonder  that  there  is  so  little  in  collateral  his- 
tory to  corroborate  the  evangelists. 

Some  of  the  most  remarkable  cases  of  miracles  or  wonders 
are  related  by  infidel  writers,  apparently  for  the  purpose  of 
shewing  that  while  they  were  wonders  they  were  not  miracles 
in  the  sense  that  they  were  the  result  of  Divine  suspension  of 
natural  laws  or  were  produced  by  special  interposition  of 
Providence  for  the  occasion.  In  a  book  entitled  "Supernatural 
Religion,"  and  published  by  Longmans  &  Greon,  London,  the 
author,  whose  name  is  not  disclosed  in  either  of  the  two  vol- 
umes, devotes  twenty-five  pages  to  a  summary  of  miracles  re- 
lated <»f  and  by  Christians  of  later  days  than  the  apodtles. 
Those  attributed  to  Gregory  are  the  most  marvelous  and  in 
some  respects  far  surpass  any  attributed  to  Jesus.  One  is  that 
two  brothers,  having  quarreled  over  the  proprietary  right  to  a 
lake,  Gregory  caused  it  to  dry  up  ar?d  become  a  fertile  field.  In 
another  he  planted  his  staff  at  a  spot  where  a  river  annually 
overflowed  its  banks  and  caused  great  loss  of  life  and  property.. 


VARIED  MARVELS. 

The  stick  took  root  and  became  a  tree,  after  which  the  river 
never  overflowed. 

Much  space  is  devoted  to  the  miracles  asserted  to  have 
been  wrought  by  St.  Augustine,  but  in  both  cases  the  author 
only  quotes  to  discredit  these  accounts,  while  such  Christian 
writers  as  Bruce  of  Glasgow  and  Fisher  of  Yale  University  re- 
fer to  "Catholic"  miracles  as  unworthy  of  credit. 

Hume  in  his  essay  on  "Human  Understanding  of  Miracles" 
relates  several  of  the  Janseriist,  Abbe  Paris.  These  he  says 
were  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  a  large  number  of  French 
cures  (pastors)  before  a  bishops'  court  in  Paris  under  the  eye 
of  Cardinal  Noailles,  but  Hume  calls  them  impostures.  Hume 
was  an  infidel,  but  in  this  was  in  harmony  with  many,  in  fact 
most  of  Christian  authors  and  preachers. 

The  man  known  as  the  Abbe  Paris  was  born  in  1727  and 
was  not  a  priest.  He  had  received  deacon's  orders  but  was  not 
satisfied  with  the  papal  bull  "Unigenitus"  and  deemed  it  wrong 
to  receive  full  ordination.  He  had  resigned  his  patrimony  to 
his  brother  in  anticipation  of  taking  orders  and  hence  was  very 
poor.  He  retired  to  a  part  of  the  city  inhabited  by  other  very 
poor  people  and  supported  himself  by  making  stockings.  His 
scanty  earnings  he  shared  with  the  poor,  to  whom  he  minis- 
tered in  every  way  in  his  power.  It  was  generally  believed 
that  his  voluntary  privations  greatly  shortened  his  life. 

Though  history  shows  that  Protestant  writers  have,  ever 
:since  the  Reformation,  made  great  efforts  to  destroy  the  belief 
in  miracles,  that  belief  has  risen  among  them  with  great  force 
.and  at  comparatively  brief  intervals.  The  healings  attributed 
to  the  Abbe  Paris  may  be  properly  classed  as  Protestant,  as 


PROTESTANT   MIRACLES. 

may  also  the  visions  and  prophesies  of  Isabel  Vincent  in 
France  in  1G86.  Of  those  visions  and  prophesies  little  need  be 
said  here  beyond  the  fact  that  the  pastors  of  the  fugitive  and 
persecuted  French  Protestants;  believed  them  to  have  been  in- 
spired, and  when  a  century  later  the  French  revolution  oc- 
curred it  was  hailed  as  the  fulfillment  of  one  of  her  prophesies. 

A  LUTHERAN  WITNESS. 

Heinrich  Steffens  was  enough  of  a  literary  light  to  have 
several  pages  devoted  to  him  in  "Outlines  of  German  Litera- 
ture/' a  book  which  reviews  the  work  of  typical  German 
writers.  He  was  won  away  from  Lutheranism  by  "that  nega- 
tive school  of  German  philosophy  whose  tendency  is  to 
destroy  the  foundations  of  religion,"  as  the  compilers  of  the 
work  say.  Steffens  was  reconverted,  however,  and  in  his  work, 
"How  I  Became  a  Lutheran  Once  More,"  he  says: 

Despite  all  the  progress  of  science,  an  obscure  be- 
lief in  the  supernatural  underlies  all  our  clearer  no- 
tions, induced  from  observations  respecting  only  the 
ordinary  course  of  events. 

*     *     * 

This  experience,  founded  on  acquaintance  with 
the  ordinary  course  of  events,  and  most  valuable 
in  its  way,  does  not  warrant  us  in  affirming  that 
such  laws  of  nature  as  we  know  are  absolute 
and  supreme.  Where  our  own  reasonings  are  con- 
fronted with  an  event,  for  which  our  limited  experi- 
ence can  assign  no  adequate  cause,  it  is  fair  to  con- 
clude that,  as  the  cause  of  the  event  itself  is  for  us  mys- 


VARIED  MARVELS.  j  c  t 

terious,  so  the  circumstances  attending  that  event  may 
be  mysterious  also. 

*    *    * 

We  cannot  destroy  faith  in  the  supernatural* 
Driven  from  one  place  it  will  reappear  in  another.  It 
might  be  better  to  find  for  it  a  safe  home,  a  proper 
sphere,  and  this  home,  I  would  suggest,  is  found  in 
Christianity. 

MAN  ABOVE  NATURE. 

Rev.  Lucius  Curtis  had  an  article  in  the  Andover  Review 
for  August,  1892,  on  ''Man  Above  Nature,"  in  which  he  com- 
bats the  positions  of  Spencer,  Huxley  et  id  and,  after  reviewing 
the  power  manifested  by  man,  says: 

We  have  now  seen  that  the  economy  of  Nature 
which  gives  to  the  highest  order  of  force  on  a  given 
plane  the  prerogative  to  rule  all  the  forces  of  that 
plane  by  its  own  law,  assigns  to  man,  as  having  rational 
energy,  the  prerogative  to  rule  all  the  forces  of  his  or- 
ganism by  the  law  of  rational  life.  We  have  seen  also 
that  this  is  not  the  law  of  any  natural  force,  but  a 
spiritual  law  for  the  direction  of  natural  forces,  and 
that  this  has  sway  only  as  it  is  freely  accepted  and 
administered  by  a  personal  power  through  functions 
that  transcend  those  of  nature  and  are  spiritual  in  their 
character. 


INFIDEL  TESTIMONY. 


HUXLEY  AND   LECKY   ON   THE   REALITY   OF  WONDER- 
FUL CURES. 

Prof.  T.  H.  Huxley,  in  the  Popular  Science  Monthly  of 
September,  1889,  in  an  article  on  the  same  subject,  speaks  of 
the  wonderful  work  of  George  Fox,  the  founder  of  the  Quakers, 
whom  he  compares  to  the  Apostle  Paul  for  what  he  did  and 
endured  and  whose  veracity  and  honesty  he  fully  endorses. 
The  most  wonderful  of  his  works  is  quoted  from  his  auto- 
biography. It  is  of  the  healing  of  an  insane  woman  for  whom 
the  medical  men  could  do  nothing.  She  was  so  violent  that  it 
required  many  persons  to  hold  her  and  a  doctor  was  about  to 
"let  her  blood"  when  Fox  interfered,  bade  people  release  her 
and  restored  her  to  sanity — instantly,  it  is  implied.  The  woman 
thus  healed  is  said  to  have  "lived  long  in  the  truth.1* 

The  same  magazine  in  April,  1878,  quotes  Lecky,  the  his- 
torian, thus: 

There  is  no  contradiction  involved  in  the  belief 
that  spiritual  beings  of  power  and  wisdom  immeasura- 
bly transcending  our  own  exist,  or  that,  existing,  they 
might,  by  the  normal  exercise  of  their  powers,  perform 
feats  as  far  surpassing  the  understanding  of  the  most 
gifted  of  mankind,  as  the  electric  telegraph  and  the 
prediction  of  an  eclipse  surpass  the  faculties  of  a 
savage. 

This  remark  of  Lecky  is  applied  to  a  debate  in  the  Prus- 
sian parliament  over  the  Marpingen  miracles,  but  those  mira- 
cles, being  of  the  discredited  Catholic  class,  only  serve  here 


INFIDEL    TESTIMONY. 

to  show  that  Lecky  was  more  liberal  than  his  countrymen  in 
general  toward  those  whose  belief  differed  from  their  own. 

The  London  Saturday  Review,  from  which  Lecky's  words 
were  copied,  remarked  of  miracle-cures  that,  whatever  may  be 
thought  of  them,  the  records  of  cures  of  supposed  hydrophobia 
by  appeal  to  the  imagination  by  religious  relics,  were  well 
attested.  It  quotes  Sir  James  Stephens  in  attestation  of  such 
healings,  Lecky  on  other  miracles  and  even  Voltaire  to  the 
same  effect. 

SKEPTICS  TAXING  CREDULITY. 

It  will  not  escape  the  critical  reader  that  these  and  nearly 
all  other  hypotheses  advanced  by  men  who  wrote  several  cen- 
turies after  the  events,  draw  as  heavily  upon  human  credulity 
as  do  the  Gospel  accounts  of  miracles. 

Then  these  critics,  who  disbelieve  the  Gospel  as  to  mira- 
cles, discredit  each  other  by  each  offering  a  different  hypothe- 
sis. Some  seem  willing  to  believe  in  some  of  the  miracles  or 
in  the  miraculous  to  a  degree.  This  naturally  causes  the  ques- 
tion: "If  a  miracle  of  lesser  degree  can  be  wrought,  why  not 
of  any  degree?  If  one  can  believe  in  the  supernatural  in  any 
degree,  why  not  believe  in  it  to  any  extent?"  It  would  seem 
reasonable  that  if  what  is  viewed  as  natural  law  could  be  sus- 
pended to  permit  the  immaculate  conception  and  birth  of 
Jesus,  it  could  also  be  suspended  to  raise  the  dead.  If  the 
maxim  of  common  law  is  as  good  in  physics  or  metaphysics  as 
in  jurisprudence,  then  either  all  the  Gospel  accounts  of  mira- 
cles are  true  or  none  of  them  are.  This  maxim,  which  is  the 
crystallization  of  the  wisdom  of  lawyers,  and  is  founded  on 
the  observations  during  centuries,  says:  "False  in  one  thing, 
false  in  all." 


TRACTARIAN   MIRACLES. 

THE   AMERICAN    TRACT    SOCIETY'S   "SKETCHES   FROM 
IJFE"  CONTAIN  THEM. 

A  volume  of  515  pages,  published  by  the  American  Tract 
Society  in  1871,  and  entitled  "Sketches  From  Life,"  contains  a 
large  number  of  stories  illustrative  of  the  efficacy  of  prayer. 
In  at  least  two  places  of  the  volume  the  authors  of  certain 
articles  say  the  age  of  miracles  is  past,  even  though  the  inci- 
dents related  are  in  the  nature,  at  least,  of  miracles.  One  story, 
entitled  "The  Cut  Finger,"  is  either  that  of  a  miracle-  or  else 
it  is  a  falsehood. 

The  story  is  that  a  boy  four  years  old  had  the  ill  luck  to 
have  one  of  his  fingers  cut  off  in  a  hay  cutter.  The  mother 
clapped  it  on  and  kept  it  there  until  a  surgeon  arrived.  The 
doctor  bound  up  the  wound  in  the  hope  of  saving  the  finger 
and  directed  that  the  dressing  be  not  disturbed  for  six  days. 
During  that  time  the  child  suffered  greatly  and  when  the  doctor 
removed  the  bandages  the  finger  dropped  off.  The  mother  re- 
placed it  and  the  doctor  told  her  he  would  call  with  another 
surgeon  soon  to  see  what  could  be  done.  They  did  not  arrive 
until  twenty-four  hours  later,  when,  directed  by  his  senior  and 
superior  in  skill,  the  doctor  again  dressed  the  wound,  and  more 
skillfully,  it  is  inferred  rather  than  asserted. 

All  the  while  the  mother  was  praying  fervently  and  in- 
cessantly for  the  restoration  of  the  child  whom  she  had  des- 


TACTARIAN  MIRACLES.  l  -  - 

tined  for  the  pulpit.  When  again  the  bandages  were  removed: 
the  severed  finger  was  found  to  have  reunited  itself  to  the- 
hand,  but  had  not  healed  straight  and  the  surgeon  advised  that 
it  be  amputated.  The  mother  resisted,  and  when  the  story  was- 
written  the  boy  had  become  a  man  and  approved  his  mother's 
action.  The  author  of  the  story  intimates  the  opinion  a  mira- 
cle was  not  wrought,  but  says  none  could  convince  the  pious 
mother  that  her  prayers  had  not  done  more  than  the  skill  of 
the  surgeons. 

The  volume  contains  in  all  nearly  200  stories  of  answers: 
to  prayers  by  which  those  who  prayed  were  relieved  of  sick- 
ness, debt  and  other  distress;  of  marvelous  conversions  of 
criminals  and  drur.k'ards  and  even  of  a  pirate  who  became  so- 
penitent  that  he  surrendered  when,  but  for  hearing  a  woman 
at  prayer  on  a  vessel  he  had  captured,  he  would  have  slain  the 
whole  crew  and  passengers. 

A  sketch  of  the  life  of  Francis  Marion,  the  rough  rider  of 
South  Carolina,  says  God  saved  him  from  death  by  shipwreck 
for  his  greater  work,  that  of  aiding  in  winning  independence 
for  America. 

Another  miracle  story  is  that  of  Jacob  Manfred,  whose 
residence  and  the  age  in  which  he  lived  are  unmentioned. 
While  wealthy  he  adopted  a  friendless  boy,  who,  when  he  grew 
up,  disappeared.  Manfred  lost  his  wealth  when  old  age  made 
him  and  his  wife  decrepit.  Just  as  a  rude,  unfeeling  officer  was 
about  to  take  the  poor  .old  couple  to  the  workhouse,  a  stranger 
appeared,  announced  himself  to  be  the  adopted  boy  who  had 
won  wealth  abroad  and  returned  to  provide  for  his  benefactor 
and  benefactress  in  their  declining  years. 


156 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 


Like  the  majority  of  the  stories  related  in  Mr.  Schuh's 
volume,  which  is  mentioned  -elsewhere  in  this  work,  those  in 
this  sketch  book  are  not  so  authenticated  as  to  command  much 
attention.  Were  it  published  by  a  less  responsible  or  less  well 
known  concern  than  the  American  Tract  Society,  little  heed 
would  be  paid  to  them.  They  are  all  written  in  a  style  that 
shows  them  to  have  been  intended  for  juvenile  reading,  and  as 
they  all  inculcate  a  belief  that  prayers  are  answered  by  the 
granting  of  the  petitions  of  suppliants,  it  seems  conclusive  evi- 
dence that  the  Protestant  sects  that  maintain  the  American 
Tract  Society  are  teaching  that  the  age  of  miracles  is  not 'past. 


A  LAYMAN'S  MIRACLES. 

VALENTINE    GREATRAKES'    FEATS    AS    RECORDED    IN 

THE  ROYAL  SOCIETY  MEMOIRS. 

Valentine  Greatrakes,  who  was  born  in  Ireland  in  1628,  is 
accredited  with  the  miraculous  gift  of  curing  the  King's  evil 
(scrofula)  by  the  combined  means  of  laying  on  of  hands  and 
prayer.  In  the  "Imperial  Dictionary  of  Universal  Biography," 
edited  by  a  number  of  men  whose  learning  is  attested  by  the 
addenda  of  M.  A.,  LL.D.,  etc.,  to  their  names,  Greatrakes  is 
said  to  have  performed  many  marvelous  cures.  The  article  in 
the  dictionary  which  is  credited  to  Birch's  Memoirs  of  the 
Royal  Society,  says  Greatrakes  was  a  man  of  unimpeachable 
integrity,  incapable  of  perpetrating  an  imposture.  Though  he 
cured  vast  numbers  of  poor  people  he  failed  to  heal  Lady  Con- 
way,  though  he  made  a  journey  to  England  for  the  purpose. 
He  did  not  exercise  his  power  for  gain,  as  he  had  an  ample 
estate,  which  was  generally  crowded  with  people  seeking  his 
aid  after  he  made  it  generally  known  that  he  possessed  suck 
wonderful  powers.  His  practice  fell  into  disrepute  in  England, 
in  1666,  after  his  examination  before  the  Royal  Society,  and 
though  he  survived  until  about  1690,  the  chronicler  of  the 
society  says  no  more  was  heard  of  him  after  1666.  The  account 
does  not  say  at  what  time  Greatrakes  began  to  exercise  his 
powers,  but  leaves  it  to  be  inferred,  from  the  fact  that  he  first 
communicated  his  belief  in  himself  to  his  wife.  Let  it  be  as- 
sumed that  this  was  when  he  was  thirty  years  old,  or  in  1658,. 
and  it  would  appear  that  he  must  have  practiced  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  eight  years. 


LIMITING  GOD'S  POWER. 

PECULIAR  THEORY  OF  FRANCES  POWER  COBBE  ON 
ANSWER  TO  PRAYER. 

Frances  Power  Cobbe,  who  has  published  several  volumes 
on  moral  and  religious  subjects  within  a  few  years,  issued  in 
1883  a  volume  entitled  "Religious  Duty."  In  this  is  a  chapter 
devoted  to  prayer,  in  the  opening  of  which  she  repeats  what 
she  said  in  her  "Theory  of  Morals,"  viz:  "That  the  law  of 
spirit  is  that  light  and  strength  are  bestowed  on  man  by  God 
according  as  the  latter  places  himself  further  from  or  nearer 
to  their  source/'  She  then  proceeds: 

The  plant  which  is  sickly,  weak  and  white,  growing 
in  the  darkness,  acquires  health  and  verdure  when  we 
bring  it  into  the  sunshine.  The  magnetic  bar  which 
has  lost  its  power  regains  it  when  we  hang  it  in  the 
plane  of  the  meridian.  Thus  (whatever  other  prayer 
may  be),  the  prayer  for  spiritual  good  is  the  direct 
mode  of  obtaining  assistance  to  our  virtue,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  fixed  laws  of  Providence. 
*  *  * 

It  will  be  seen  here  that  I  assume  it  to  be  proved 
that  there  is  an  actual  answer  given  by  God  to  our  re- 
quests for  His  assistance.  I  assume  that  the  strength 
which  comes  to  us  in  prayer  is  not  merely  a  subjective 
phenomenon,  the  strength  acquired  by  the  will  by  its 
own  act  of  excercise.  ********* 


LIMITING  GOD'S   POWER. 

There  is  a  natural  supply  for  spiritual  as  for  corporeal 
wants,  so  we  have  spiritual  facilities  to  lay  hold  on 
God  and  supply  spiritual  wants. 
This  last  sentence  the  lady  attributes  to  Theodore  Parker, 

in  a  footnote.     After  arguing  the  correctness  of  these  views 

she  says: 

All  this  is  natural,  normal".  It  is  not  a  miracle  that 
the  Omnipresent  is  close  to  us,  that  the  Omniactive 
moves  our  hearts.  It  is  not  strange  that  the  Infinite 
Father,  who  bears  us  in  his  everlasting  arms,  should 
supply  the  cravings  of  our  immortal  souls  while  He 
feeds  the  ravens  and  gives  the  young  lions  their  prey. 
It  would  be  a  miracle  if  it  were  otherwise. 

The  argument,  then,  stands  thus:  He  who  doubts 
that  God  hears  prayer,  denies  that  we  have  proof  of 
the  fact.  But  what  proof  would  satisfy  him?  If  he  say 
"None/'  this  would  imply  that  there  is  an  essential 
absurdity  in  the  case,  but  we  must  call  on  him  to  point 
out  the  absurdity  since  we  cannot  see  it.  But  if  he  ad-  . 
mit  that  the  thing  is  not,  in  itself,  absurd  and  self- 
contradictory,  then  it  seems  to  me  he  cannot  ask  any 
other  proof  than  exactly  that  which  abounds, — name- 
ly, the  unanimous  testimony  of  spiritual  persons  to  the 
efficacy  of  prayer. 
The  gifted  authoress  carries  out  this  idea,  but  confines  it 

strictly  to  prayer  for  spiritual  gifts — the  prayer  for  light  and 

grace  and  says: 

To  the  soul  which  has  reached  that  stage  of  spirit- 
ual life  wherein  such  culmination  of  worship  takes 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

place,  it  is  revealed  that  God  does  actually  hear,  accept 
and  bless,  ay,  in  a  certain  sense  (if  we  may  dare  sym- 
bolize His  awful  nature)  desire  the  prayer  of  His  child. 
After  this  and  much  more  of  evidence  that  she  has  a  very 
full  appreciation  of  the  majesty,  sublimity  and  omniscience  of 
God,  Miss  Cobbe  on  the  next  page  proceeds  to  put  a  limit  on 
i he  power  of  Omnipotence  thus: 

Does  philosophy  warrant  us  to  expect  that  God  will 
grant  any  prayer  for  physical  good, — for  abundant  har- 
vests, favorable  weather,  recovery  from  sickness  or  so 
on? 

This  question  she  answers  in  the  negative  in  several  pages 
in  which  she  employs  arguments  that,  were  one  to  take  the 
trouble  to  remodel  them,  would  be  equally  forcible  against  her 
position  that  God  hears  and  answers  prayer  for  spiritual  good. 
She  argues  that  to  answer  such  prayers  would  be  to  make  His 
laws  operate  unequally  and  hence  unjustly,  which  is  not  to  be 
considered.  In  fortification  of  this  position  she  says  "prayer 
begins  where  science  stops  and  as  science  advances  prayer  re- 
treats." 

Miss  Cobbe's  orthodoxy,  in  this  respect,  is  very  evident 
and  she  admits  that  God  made  everything  and  governs  every- 
thing, but  still  denies  that  He  has  any  other  power  over  the 
physical  world  than  that  indicated  in  those  laws  of  nature  of 
which  man  is  informed.  That  is  not  her  way  of  expressing  the 
opinion.  She  employs  some  very  subtle  reasoning,  based  upon 
what  she  knows,  in  an  effort  to  prove  that  God  has  no  powers 
of  which  human  philosophers  are  unaware.  Miss  Cobbe  was 
not  orthodox  in  the  usually  accepted  sense.  She  underwent 


LIMITING    GOD'S    POWER. 

great  tribulation  in  consequence  of  her  meditations  on  religious 
subjects  and,  after  reading  and  studying  widely  on  the  subject 
and  many  phases  of  it,  she  became  an  ardent  admirer  of  the 
late  Theodore  Parker  and  published  an  edition  of  his  writings. 
Miss  Cobbe  is  an  Irish  woman  of  high  education  and  seems  to 
have  inherited  ample  means  to  enable  her  to  pursue  her  studies 
all  her  life.  Though  she  is  not  an  orthodox  Protestant,  these 
extracts  from  her  writings  are  quoted  for  what  they  are  worth. 


PHILOSOPHERS'   OPINIONS. 


SOME     EMINENT     SCIENTISTS     WHO     HAVE     REBUKED 
SCIENTIFIC     SKEPTICISM. 

In  the  course  of  my  researches  I  have  consulted  few  works 
that  treated  of  spiritualism,  but  have  avoided  them  as  foreign 
to  my  purpose.  By  a  singular  error  in  the  transposition  of 
figures  in  a  memorandum  of  library  numbers  I  got  a  little  work 
by  Alfred  Russell  Wallace,  an  English  author  of  some  note, 
"On  Miracles  and  Modern  Spiritualism."  The  first  thing  that 
struck  me  in  this  book  was  a  page  of  quotations,  which  I  copy, 
viz: 

A  presumptuous  skepticism  that  rejects  facts  with- 
out examination  of  their  truth  is,  in  some  respects, 
more  injurious  than  unquestioning  credulity. — Hum- 
boldt. 

One  good  experiment  is  of  more  value  than  the  in- 
genuity of  a  brain  like  Newton's.  Facts  are  more  use- 
ful when  they  contradict,  than  when  they  support,  re- 
ceived theories.— Sir  Humphrey  Davy. 

The  perfect  observer  in  any  department  of  science 
will  have  his  eyes,  as  it  were,  opened,  that  they  may 
be  struck  at  r>nce  by  any  occurrence  which,,  according 
to  received  theories,  ought  not  to  happen,  for  these  are 
the  facts  which  serve  as  clues  to  new  discoveries. — Sir 
John  Herschell. 


PHILOSOPHERS'   OPINIONS. 

Before  experience  itself  can  be  used  with  ad  van-  ' 
tage,  .there  is  one  preliminary  step  to  make  which  de- 
pends entirely  upon  ourselves:  It  is  the  absolute  dis- 
missal and  clearing  of  the  mind  of  all  prejudice,  and 
the  determination  to  stand  or  fall  by  the  result  of  a 
direct  appeal  to  facts'  in  the  first  instance,  and  of  strict 
logical  deduction  from  them  afterwards. — Sir  John 
Herschell. 

With  regard  to  the  miracle  question,    I    can    only 
say  that  the  word  "impossible"  is  not,  to  my  mind,  ap- 
plicable to  matters  of  philosophy.     That  the  possibili- 
ties of  nature  are  infinite  is  an  aphorism  with  which  I 
am  wont  to  worry  my  friends. — Prof.  Huxley. 
I  cannot  resist  the  impulse    to    here    remark    that    those 
clerymen  and  other  writers  who  have  employed  the  methods 
that  skeptical  philosophers  have  used  against  all  miracles,  in 
their  battling  against  the  belief  in  modern  thaumaturgy,  that 
it  would  be  better  for  their  reputations  as  logicians  were  they 
to  also  adopt  the  liberality  of  the  "infidel  philosophers." 

Mr.  Wallace  devotes  much  attention  to  Hume's  account  of 
the  Jansenist  miracles  and  exposes  some  glaring  contradic- 
tions in  his  work.  Placing  the  contradictory  passages  suffi- 
ciently near  to  make  their  incongruity  striking,  he  shows  the 
"infidel"  historian  and  philosopher  to  have  indulged  in  what 
is  characterized  in  the  American  trick  politician  as  "faking." 


DIVINE  WRATH. 


WHAT    ORTHODOX    PEOPLE    BELIEVE    OF    GOD'S    VEN- 
GEANCE ON  INFIDELS. 

Take  up  a  volume  of  sermons  by  T.  DeWitt  T'almage  and  see 
if  you  do  not  find  evidences  that  he  believed  in  modern  mira- 
cles. In  a  volume  published  in  1886  is  one  on  the  topic:  "Why 
are  Satan  and  Sin  Permitted?"  In  this  he  expresses  the 
opinion  that  God's  interposition  brought  about  the  downfall 
of  "Boss"  Tweed  of  New  York  City  and  the  death  by  accident 
of  William  the  Conqueror.  In  the  same  sermon  he  speaks  of 
the  establishment  of  an  infidel  college  in  that  indefinite  region, 
"the  far  West.  It  languished  a  short  time  and  then  the  Pres- 
byterians gained  possession  of  it,  and  Talmage  attributes  the 
failure  and  change  of  ownership  to  God's  influence  if  not  direct 
interposition. 

This  recalls  what  was  uttered  from  many  pulpits  after  the 
massacre  at  New  Ulm,  Minnesota,  during  the  Indian  war  in  the 
fifth  decade  of  this  century.  New  Ulm  was  settled  by  German 
infidels,  who  made  a  law  that  no  minister  of  the  Gospel  should 
be  suffered  to  remain  in  that  place.  When  the  Indians  de- 
stroyed the  town  Christian  ministers  in  large  numbers,  and  in. 
many  states,  said  God  used  the  Indians  as  instruments  of  his 
wrath  to  rebuke  or  revenge  the  infidelity  of  the  people  who 
wouldn't  suffer  a  church  to  be  built  or  a  minister  to  reside  In 
the  town.  This  sentiment  was  expressed  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Dakota  Mission  conference  of  the  M.  E.  Church  in  1884,  and 
was  Lot  disputed  by  any  of  the  assembled  ministers. 


MARK  OF  ARETHUSA. 


A  PROTESTANT  HISTORIAN  ACCEPTS  ONE  ACCOUNT  OF 
POST-APOSTOLIC  MIRACLES. 

Millman's  History  of  Christianity,  pp.  25  to  35,  contains 
an  account  of  Mark  of  Arethusa  being  accused  of  having  de- 
stroyed a  Jewish  temple  and  being  ordered  to  rebuild  it.  As 
Mark  was  as  poor  as  other  early  Christian  apostles,  the  order 
could  not  be  carried  out,  but  the  Jews  undertook  the  work 
themselves.  While  they  were  engaged  in  clearing  the  ruins  a 
series  of  explosions  occurred  which  drove  the  workers  out  re- 
peatedly and  defeated  them  in  their  efforts  to  rebuild. 

On  page  27  the  learned  historian  indulges  in  reflections  on 
the  relative  credibility  of  accounts  of  miracles  addressed  to 
terror  and  those  that  appeal  to  calmer  emotions.  It  is  evident 
that  his  conclusion  is  in  favor  of  the  latter  class,  while  he  does 
not  discredit  the  other.  Further  along  in  his  work,  page  165 
and  beyond,  he  quotes  Augustine  and  Ambrose  to  the  effect 
that  miracles  had  ceased  during  their  early  days,  but  he  also 
shows  that  both  of  these  fathers  professed  to  have  wrought 
miracles. 

In  doing  this  Millman,  like  White  and  some  others,  seems 
to  forget  that  they  have  proved  both  sides  of  the  question,  as 
he  expresses  no  doubt  of  the  genuineness  of  the  history  he 
quotes.  Those  who  argue  after  that  fashion  may  never  have 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

read  the  rule  that  what  proves  equally   well    for   both    sides 
proves  nothing. 

In  this  case  Millman's  position  is  only  valuable  as  the  tes- 
timony of  an  adverse  witness  giving  unwilling  evidence  that 
he  and  his  confreres  make  an  exception  to  what  they  would 
have  people  believe  is  the  invariable  rule,  whenever  they  find 
miracles  that  strike  their  fancy. 


A  MORMON  MIRACLE. 


A  DAY  OF   FASTING  RESTORES   HEALTH   WHERE  THE 
DOCTORS  ADMIT  THAT  THEY  ARE  POWERLESS. 

As  I  have  included  in  this  collection  of  wonders  a  few 
miracles  that  I  have  classed  as  non-religious  and  some  from 
the  Shakers,  who,  being  Unitarians,  are  not  considered  Evan- 
gelical, I  may  also  be  indulged  in  making  a  Mormon  miracle 
a  feature  of  the  work  The  story  reached  me  after  my  first 
"copy"  was  in  the  hands  of  the  printer  and  I  have  not  had 
time  to  get  the  particulars  or  have  the  main  story  verified  by 
the  authorities.  My  informant  is  the  person  who  taught  the 
public  school  in  Annabella,  Sevier  county,  Utah;  a  non-Mor- 
mon and  not  a  member  of  any  other  church.  The  story  in 
brief  is  this: 

Mrs.  Hattie  Stewart  had  given  birth  to  a  child  in  1896  and 
all  went  apparently  well.  After  she  had  been  confined  to  her 
bed  six  weeks  I  first  heard  of  the  case  on  the  death  of  the 
child.  I  visited  Mrs.  Stewart  at  the  request  of  her  friends  and 
found  her  greatly  wasted  and  almost  in  a  state  of  exhaustion. 
She  lingered  under  a  doctor's  care  nearly  three  months  and 
then  the  physicians  gave  up  the  case  as  one  for  whom  their 
skill  was  of  no  avail. 

At  this  point  the  bishop  and  elders  of  Annabella  began 
visiting  Mrs.  Stewart  and  appointed  a  fast  day  for  the  purpose 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

of  benefiting  her.  I  heard  of  the  appointment  and  gladly  joined 
in  the  effort,  knowing  it  could  do  no  harm  to  either  patient  or 
f asters  and  feeling  that  if  prayer  could  be  efficacious  it  would 
be  as  likely  to  be  so  in  her  case  as  any.  I  explained  the  fast 
day  and  its  purpose  to  the  children  and  they  became  enthusias- 
tic in  the  cause. 

When  the  day  arrived,  I  think  it  was  the  day  after  I  an- 
nounced it  to  them,  fully  two-thirds  of  my  thirty  odd  pupils 
came  to  school  fasting.  They  didn't  even  drink  water,  and  out 
of  the  350  adult  inhabitants  or  thereabouts,  fully  300  fasted 
half  the  day  and  250  until  4  p.  m.,  the  hour  appointed. 

Among  the  few  non-Mormons  in  the  village  there  were 
some  who  secretly  scouted  the  idea  that  the  fasting  could  have 
any  effect  and  some  declared  that  the  fasters  would  harm  them- 
selves. Though  I  remained  there  several  months  after  the 
event,  I  heard  of  no  ill  effects,  while  I  know  that  Mrs.  Stewart 
recovered  her  health  and  the  people  of  Annabella  know  it  and 
believe  her  recovery  is  d-ue  to  their  prayers. 

Although  the  extraordinary  events  recorded  in  this  chapter 
cannot  be  called  Protestant,  they  are  so  interesting  in  them- 
selves and  are  so  nearly  miraculous  as -to  merit  a  place  in  this 
work  as  contradicting  the  assumption  that  the  age  of  miracles 
is  plast. 


WHAT  ARE  MIRACLES? 


SOME  DEFINITIONS  AND  EXPLANATIONS  OF  THE  TERM 
BY  DIFFERENT  AUTHORITIES. 

Lexicographers  define  miracles  as  event*  or  effects  con- 
trary to  the  established  course  of  things  or  the  known  laws  of 
nature;  supernatural  events  or  events  transcending  the  ordin- 
ary laws  by  which  the  universe  is  governed. 

Among  the  ablest  defenders  of  the  miraculous  origin  of 
Christianity  is  Archbishop  Trench  of  Dublin.  On  page  9  of  his 
"Notes  on  the  Miracles  of  Our  Lord,"  a  work  republished  in 
the  United  States  by  the  Tibbals  Book  Company  of  New  York, 
the  Archbishop  thus  defines  a  miracle: 

An  extraordinary  Divine  casualty,  and  not  that 
ordinary  whicn  we  acknowledge  everywhere  and  in 
everything:  belongs  then  to  the  essence  of  a  miracle; 
powers  of  God  other  than  those  which  have  always 
been  working;  such  indeed  as  most  seldom  or  never 
have  been  working  before.  The  unresting  activity  of 
God  which  at  other  times  hides  and  conceals  iUeif  be- 
hind the  veil  of  what  we  term  natural  laws,  does  in  ihe 
miracle  unveil  itself;  it  steps  out  from  its  concealment 
and  the  hand  which  works  is  laid  bare.  Beside  and  be- 
yond the  ordinary  operations  of  nature,  higher  powers 
(higher,  not  as  coming  from  a  higher  source,  but  as 
bearing  upon  higher  end)  intrude  and  make  themselves 


PROTESTANT   MIRACLES. 

felt  even  at  the  very  springs  and  sources  of  her  power. 
On  page  1!  he  further  speaks  of  miracles  thus: 

But  while  the  miracle  is  not  thus  nature,  so  neither 
is  it  against  nature.  That  language,  however  uncom- 
mon, is  wholly  unsatisfactory,  wfcich  speaks  of  these 
wonderful  works  of  God  as  violations  of  natural  law. 
Beyond  nature,  beyond  and  above  the  nature  which  we 
know,  they  are,  but  not  contrary  to  it. 

What  says  Christian  Science  of  miracles?  On  page  582  of 
Science  and  Health  they  are  defined  as  "divinely  natural."  On 
page  28  miracles  are  treated  of  as  in  accordance  with  God's 
law,  a  demonstration  of  "the  superiority  of  spiritual  power 
over  material  resistance."  On  page  249  miracles  are  said  to 
be  impossible  in  science,  which  teaches  that  the  highest  mani- 
festation of  life  or  truth  is  not  supernatural,  but  from  the 
divine  nature  whose  laws  are  superior  to  material  laws,  and 
miracles  are  but  the  natural  demonstrations  of  this  Divine 
power." 

Christian  Science  holds  ttiat  the  miracles  of  Jesus  did  not 
especially  belong  to  a  dispensation  that  has  ended,  but  that 
they  illustrate  a  divine  principle  that  is  always  operative,  but 
which  human  theories  cannot  explain  or  interpret. 

AFRAID  OF  A  WORD. 

In  most  of  the  works  from  which  T  have  quoted  or  to  which 
I  have  referred  as  of  orthodox  Protestant  authority,  there  seems 
to  be  a  studied  avoidance  of  .the  word  "miracle"  as  applied  to 
modern  events  that  come  under  the  definitions  quoted  herein. 
It  seems  to  have  become  a  settled  habit  with  those  who  defend 


WHAT  ARE  MIRACLES? 

the  miraculous  origin  of  Christianity,  yet  declare  that  the  age 
of  miracles  is  past.  In  the  course  of  an  argument  in  support 
of  the  miracles  of  the  Gospel  against  those  who  assailed  them, 
Archbishop  Trench  says  on  page  49  of  his  work  on  "The  Mira- 
cles of  Our  Lord:" 

The  existence  of  false  cycles  of  miracles  should  no 
more  cast  suspicion  upon  all  or  cause  to  doubt  those 
which  present  themselves  with  marks  of  the  time,  than 
the  appearance  of  a  parhelion    fore-running   the   sun 
should  cause  us  to  deny  that  he  was  traveling  up  from 
beneath  the  horizon,  for  which,  rather,  it  is  an  evidence. 
This  argument  the  prelate  seems  to  think  powerful  against 
the  heathen  philosophers  and  those  modern  infidels  who  em- 
ploy the  alleged  miracles  of  Apollonius  of  Tyana  to  discredit 
the  Gospel  accounts  of  those  performed  by  Jesus  of  Nazajreth. 
The  learned  prelate  does  not  seem  to  have  foreseen  that  his 
argument  would  ever  be  employed  by  those  whom  the  priests 
of  his  church  now  condemn  as  deluders  or  the  deluded. 


WHY  THEY  ARE  INCENSED. 


EVIDENCES  THAT  FEAR,  NOT  DISBELIEF,  CAUSES  AT- 
TACKS ON  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

The  Church  would  never  have  attacked  Christian  Science 
if  its  author  had  confined  her  efforts  to  the  healing  of  disease, 
.and  the  doctors  would  not  have  assailed  it  had  she  simply 
labored  to  teach  a  new  theory  in  religion  or  organize  a  new 
sect.  Doctors  and  ministers  do  not  agree  well,  as  classes,  but 
as  Mrs.  Eddy  has  invaded  the  fields  of  both  they  join  forces  to 
attack  her.  The  ministers  are  rather  less  unmanly  than  the 
doctors  in  their  attacks  because  they  generally  make  open  as- 
saults, while  the  doctors  act  covertly,  through  legislatures, 
coroners'  juries  and  through  the  bigotry  of  the  ignorant. 

In  this  the  history  of  Christian  Science  resembles  the  early 
history  of  Christianity.  If  Jesus  had  not  attempted  to  reform 
the  religion  of  His  day  the. priests  would  not  have  denounced 
Him.  The  priests  and  lawyers  of  that  day  possessed  nearly  all 
the  learning  and  they  seem  to  have  been  afflicted  with  fear  like 
that  which  is  taking  possession  of  the  priests  and  doctors  of 
to-day.  The  physicians  of  apostolic  days  do  not  seem  to  have 
joined  in  the  persecution  of  Christ  and  his  followers.  The  doc- 
tors with  whom  Jesus  disputed  in  the  synagogue  were  not  phy- 
sicians, but  teachers — doctors  of  the  law — or  lawyers  like  Saul 
of  Tarsus.  It  is  fajr  to  assume  that  Jesus  did  not  interfere  with 


WHY  THEY  ARE  INCENSED.  j-- 

thc-ir  financial  interests  in  healing  the  sick  and  raising  the 
dead  or  they  would  have  aided  in  raising  the  mob  that  insisted 
on  Jesus  being  punished  under  the  civil  law  for  treason,  when 
the  real  complaint  against  him  was  heresy,  of  which  the  Roman 
law  took  no  jurisdiction.  The  heresy  consisted  of  efforts  to 
make  the  Jewish  religion  practical  instead  of  theoretical;  to 
make  it  a  religion  of  deeds  as  well  as  of  creed. 

There  is  nothing  your  average  priest,  preacher  or  minister 
dreads  and  hates  more  than  an  attempt  to  reduce  religion  to 
practice,  unless  it  is  the  person  who  makes  the  attempt  and  de- 
mands that  the  preachers  exemplify  their  sincerity  by  their 
practices.  This  is  about  as  true  of  the  present  as  of  the  past. 
The  reasons  they  do  not  instigate  mobs  to  persecute  Mrs.  Eddy 
and  her  followers  are  that  the  people  are  not  as  easily  led  as 
they  were  in  those  old  days;  that  the  clergy  are  not  united 
either  as  to  what  constitutes  heresy  or  what  constitutes  true 
religion,  and  that  the  laws  of  the  land  forbid.  The  last  reason 
is  the  result  of  the  too  free  exercise  of  priestly  influence  in 
causing  persecution  for  opinion's  sake  and  is  not  attributable 
to  the  reduction  to  practice  of  that  precept  of  Jesus  that  the 
greatest  of  virtues  is  charity. 


SCOURGED  TO  THE  PULPIT. 


A  NONOGENARIAN  MINISTER  WHOM  GOD  CONSTRAINED 
TO  ENTER  THE  PULPIT. 

Rev.  J.  C.  Holbrook,  D.  D.,  LL.D.,  now  over  ninety  years 
old.  was  for  more  than  half  a  century  a  Congregational  minis- 
ter. He  was  the  first  editor  of  the  Congregational  Herald  of 
Chicago,  where  he  was  also  pastor  of  a  church  during  two  years 
or  more.  He  issued  in  1897  "Recollections  of  a  Nonogenarian," 
in  which  is  incorporated  an  autobiography.  In  this  the  vener- 
able divine,  who  has  for  several  years  lived  in  retirement  in 
Stockton,  California,  says  his  mother's  prayers  caused  him  to 
become  a  minister.  He  describes  his  career  up  to  his  entry  of 
the  ministry  and  says  "though  the  answer  (to  her  prayers)  was 
delayed  awhile,  were  at  last  answered  and  for  that  I  shall  be 
ever  grateful  to  her  and  to  Him.  who  answers  prayer." 

Further  along  he  tells  of  his  success  as  a  young  man  in 
politics  and  the  probability  of  its  continuance  had  he  con- 
tinued. "But  God  had  other  and  better  things  in  regard  to  me." 
And  in  returning  to  the  subject  he  repeats:  "As  I  have  said, 
God  had  something  better  for  me  than  a  political  career." 

On  page  42  he  says  of  his  membership  in  the  church  of  Dr. 
Lyman  Beecher  of  Boston:  "It  was  part  of  God's  appointed 
preparation  of  me  for  my  subsequent  professional  career." 

On  page  53,  in  treating  of  the  successful  establishment  of 
an  insane  asylum  at  Brattleboro,  Vt,  in  which  enterprise  he 
was  an  active  agent,  he  says: 

But  this  is  only  one  of  a  multitude  of  illustrations 


SCOURGED   TO   THE   PULPIT. 

which  history  affords  that,  in  the  providence  of  God, 
vast  and  beneficial  results  have  flowed  from  what 
seemed  to  human  eyes  very  insignificant  beginnings. 
Let  us  not  "despise  the  day  of  small  things."  No 
benevolent  act,  however  small,  is  performed  in  vain, 
and  we  may  confidently  expect  the  blessing  of  God  on 
any  enterprise  undertaken  for  His  glory  and  the  good 
of  mankind. 

Dr.  Hoi  brook  has  the  deep  satisfaction  of  having  been  the 
first  person  to  introduce  Henry  Ward  Beecher  to  the  public. 
That  was  after  his  return  to  Vermont  from  Boston,  when,  after 
engaging  O.  S.  Fowler  to  lecture  on  temperance,  that  gentle- 
man, who  had  as  yet  no  fame,  recommended  his  college  class- 
mate, Beecher,  to  whom  Mr.  Holbrook  paid  $10,  the  first  money 
young  Beecher  had  ever  earned  as  a  lecturer. 

Some  passages  in  Dr.  Holbrook's  book  are  very  affecting, 
especially  those  in  which  he  tells  of  the  death  of  his  sons  and 
his  first  wife;  his  suffering  from  nostalgia;  his  determination 
to  return  to  the  East  from  Davenport,  Iowa,  whither  he  had 
migrated  with  the  intention  of  becoming  a  farmer.  Regarding 
all  this,  after  saying  he  decided  to  return  to  the  East,  he  says: 

But  such  was  not  the  will  of  God.  He  had  been 
preparing  me  for  a  life-work  different  from  that  I  an- 
ticipated, and  in  part  for  this  purpose  broke  up  my 
family. 

And  now  occurred,  in  accordance  with  His  plans, 
one  of  the  most  important  providential  interpositions 
in  my  affairs,  of  which  I  have  so  many  to  record,  and 
which  changed  my  whole  subsequent  life. 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 

Dr.  Hoi  brook  then  tells  how  he  was  led  to  Dubuque  by  a 
circuitous  route  and  &  rare  combination  of  circumstances  that 
culminated  in  a  call  to  the  pastorate  of  a  Presbyterian  church; 
its  change  to  Congregational;  his  success  there  from  1842  until 
1852;  his  marriage  -to  his  second  wife,  to  whom  he  says  he  was 
"most  providentially  directed,  as  fifty-two  years  of  experience 
in  our  after  united  life  have  abundantly  proven." 

The  room  to  give  all  of  the  venerable  doctor's  views  on 
special  providences  cannot  be  spared  here.  These  extracts  are 
sufficient  to  show  that  one  eminently  respectable  Congrega- 
tionalist,  who  has  heard  two  generations  of  Beechers  preach; 
whose  devotion  to  his  church  has  earned  him  his  learned  titles 
from  two  different  colleges,  believes  in  the  miraculous  and  has 
left  enduring  evidence  of  that  belief.  As  the  book  was  pub- 
lished at  the  request  of  the  Monday  Club  of  San  Francisco  and 
vicinity,  which  club  is  composed  of  orthodox  ministers;  which 
request  was  supplemented  by  like  requests. from  other  minis- 
ters, it  cannot  but  be  regarded  as  sound  orthodoxy.  One  rea- 
son why  so  much  space  is  devoted  to  it  here  is  that  a  minister 
of  the  denomination  to  which  Dr.  Hoi  brook  belongs,  and  ap- 
parently an  intimate  friend  of  the  venerable  divine,  recently 
indulged  in  a  lengthy  attack  upon  Christian  Science  and  de- 
rided its  author  as  "ill-brained  and  ill-trained"  for  expressing 
opinions  that  to  an  impartial  reader  would  seem  less  incon- 
sistent with  reverence  for  the  omniscience  and  loving  kindness 
of  God  than  Dr.  Holbrook's  idea  that  God  deprived  his  first 
wife  and  second  child  of  life  in  order  to  constrain  him  to  devote 
himself  to  preaching  the  Gospel. 


DEBT  PAID  MIRACULOUSLY. 


It  would  appear  from  the  character  of  some  books  that  are 
published  for  the  use  of  preachers  that  they  are  expected  to 
believe  stories  of  the  miraculous  even  without  the  verification 
prescribed  by  good  theological  authorities  who  doubt.  "Anec- 
dotes Illustrative  of  New  Testament  Texts"  is  the  title  of  one 
volume  of  the  "Clerical  Library,"  published  by  A.  C.  Armstrong 
&  Son,  New  York,  "for  the  clergy  and  students  of  all  denomina- 
tions." To  judge  from  the  appearance  of  the  volume  I  found 
in  a  public  library,  it  had  been  thoroughly  used  by  one  clergy- 
man, who  marked  several  passages.  No  name  of  author  or 
compiler  appears  and  few  of  the  anecdotes  have  even  the  name 
of  those  to  whom  they  are  attributed  as  experiences. 

In  this  volume  are  numerous  stories  of  answer  to  prayer 
wherein  the  petitioners  were  delivered  from  evils  of  various 
kinds.  One,  attributed  to  Rev.  Frederick  Robinson,  residence 
not  given,  tells  how  he  escaped  a  flogging  at  school  by  the 
power  of  prayer,  and  this  is  attributed  to  Dr.  Krummacher  of 
Elberfeld,  Prussia,  who  has  written  considerable  theological 
matter: 

A  poor  man  in  the  neighborhood  was  sitting  at  his 
door  early  in  the  morning,  weeping.  His  heart  cried  to 
heaven,  for  he  was  expecting  an  officer  to  distrain  him 
for  debt.  While  thus  sitting  a  little  bird  fluttered  into 


178 


PROTESTANT   MIRACLES. 


his  cottage.  The  man  closed  the  door  and  caught  the 
bird,  which  at  once  began  to  sing  what  he  imagined  to 
be  the  melody  of  his  favorite  hymn,  "Fear  thou  not 
when  darkness  reigns,"  and  the  thought  comforted  him» 
Suddenly  a  knock  came  at  the  door  and  a  servant 
of  a  lady  came  in  to  recover  the  escaped  bird.  In  a  few 
minutes  after  he  surrendered  the  sweet  singer,  the  ser- 
vant returned  with  the  thanks  of  his  mistress  and  a 
sum  of  money.  When  the  officer  came  the  debtor 
handed  him  the  money— the  exact  amount  of  the  debt, 
saying:  "Here  is  the  amount.  God  has  sent  it  to  me. 
Leave  me  in  peace." 


BELIEF  IN  1899. 


MOODY  AND  CALIFORNIAN  CLERGYMEN  ON  PRAYER 
FOR  RAIN, 

The  great  valleys  of  California  suffered  a  severe  drouth 
during  the  grain  season  of  1898  and  farmers  lost  vast  amounts. 
The  winter  of  1898-9  threatened  another  season  of  drouth.  Only 
five  inches  of  water  had  fallen  for  the  season  1897-8  and  up  to 
the  close  of  1898  no  more  had  fallen  at  the  point  of  average 
precipitation. 

Prayers  went  up  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  state  for  rain, 
but  what  fell  previous  to  March  15,  1899,  was  "only  enough  to 
aggravate  the  fears  and  anxieties  of  the  farmers.  On  the  15th 
rain  began  falling  and  continued  to  fall  in  generous  volume 
until  the  average  was  exceeded  by  about  10  per  cent.  By  the 
close  of  March  the  despondency  of  the  farmers  and  business 
men,  who  are  dependent  more  upon  agricultural  success  than 
on  any  other  industry,  was  turned  to  hope  and  joy. 

On  the  25th  of  March  the  Sunday  Bulletin  of  San  Francisco 
published  the  views  of  a  number  of  clergymen  on  the  efficacy 
of  prayer  for  rain.  D.  L.  Moody,  the  world-renowned  evan- 
gelist, was  among  those  interviewed,  he  being  at  that  time  en- 
gaged in  revival  work  in  the  California  metropolis.  Mr.  Moody 
is  thus  quoted  by  Miriam  Michelson,  a  Jewish  woman,  who  is  a, 
very  attractive  special  writer  on  that  paper: 

"My  boy  wanted  a  bicycle,"  said  Mr.  Moody.     "He 

coaxed  me  for  it.    He  got  it.    If  it  had  been  a  racehorse 

he  wanted,  he  should  not  have  had  it.    God  is  truly  like 


i8o 


PROTESTANT   MIRACLES. 


a  father  to  us.  He  likes  to  be  teased.  Of  course,  his 
judgment  is  perfect,  though,  and  in  that  respect  my 
parallel  to  an  earthly  father  will  not  hold.  You  think, 
perhaps,  that  if  you  intend  to  withhold  something  from 
your  child,  that  all  his  coaxing  will  be  of  no  avail.  But 
you're  mistaken.  Ask,  ask,  of  course." 

The  great  revivalist  sat  alone  upon  the  platform, 
facing  the  audience,  at  the  close  of  yesterday's  meet- 
ing. For  two  hours  the  big  church  had  been  filled  to 
overflowing  with  the  crowd.  Yet  the  people  filed  up 
and  past  him,  grasping  his  hand  and  speaking  a  few 
words  to  him.  He  was  at  his  best  just  then,  his  short, 
stout  body  bent  forward,  his  large,  fat  hand  shaking 
cordially  the  many  hands  held  up  to  him,  his  homely, 
kindly  face  in  its  frame  of  white  hair  falling  down  upon 
them  all,  even  upon  the  six  little  Chinese  maidens,  new 
Christians,  whom  he  blessed  and  told  to  "go  back  to- 
China  and  spread  the  light." 

"The  thing  to  do  is  to  pray,"  he  said,  returning  to 
the  rain  question.  ''Why  not?  My  little  grandson  has 
been  at  the  point  of  death  for  nine  weeks.  All  over 
the  United  States  I  have  had  people  praying  for  him. 
He  is  going  to  recover.  Why  not  pray  for  rain,  then? 

"Pray,  I  tell  you!  Why,  I  pray  for  everything,  for 
anything  I  want,  spiritual  or  material.  I  pray  for  every- 
body. I'll  pray  for  you." 

And  there  was  an  emphasis  on  the  "you"  that 
made  it  unnecessary  for  Mr.  Moody  to  add  the  word 
"even." 


BELIEF  IN  1899. 

PRESBYTERIAN  VIEW. 

To  Rev.  John  Heniphill,  D.  D.,  of  Calvary  Presbyterian 
Church,  is  attributed  the  view  here  set  forth: 

Dr.  Hemphill  declares  that  it  is  not  a  miracle  if 
rain  be  sent  in  answer  to  prayer. 

"It  is  not  the  inversion  or  the  change  in  a  natural 
law.  There  is  no  law  of  Nature,  or  rather  there  is  a 
higher  law,  the  law  of  God,  which  sends  the  rain  or 
withholds  it.  All  this  modern  materialistic  bathos  of 
the  scientists  has  nothing,  absolutely,  to  stand  upon. 
Tyndall  probed  and  probed,  and  at  the  end  of  his  re- 
searches he  was  honest  enough  to  say  that  he  could 
find  nothing  in  favor  of  the  theory  of  spontaneous  gen- 
eration. If  you  admit  one  miracle,  you  admit  all.  There 
are  great  minds  that  refuse  to  admit  the  miracles. 
There  are  minds  as  great,  such  as  Minton's  that  be- 
lieve in  the  miracles.  I  believe  with  Minton.  My  faith 
is  absolutely  unshaken  by  such  men  as  Huxley  and 
Renan.  I  prayed  for  rain  in  my  church.  It  was  as 
natural  a  thing  to  do  as  it  is  1'or  my  grandchild  to  beg 
me  for  something  he  wants." 

John  A.  B.  Wilson,  D.  D.,  of  Howard-Street  M.  E.  Church, 
is  thus  quoted  in  answer  to  the  inquiry:  "Do  you  believe  in 
prayer  for  rain?" 

I  most  certainly  believe  in  praying  for  rain.  "Ask, 
and  it  shall  be  given  you."  In  my  church  we  prayed  for 
rain  last  week.  In  my  son's  church  in  Pasadena  they 
prayed  for  rain.  There  was  not  the  sign  of  a  cloud  in 


PROTESTANT   MIRACLES. 

the  sky.     There  was  not  the  slightest    indication    of 

rain.    And  yet  rain  fell,  that  very  night. 

I  absolutely  believe    the    rain    fell    in    answer  to 

prayer.    And  I  am  willing  to  go  on  record  to  that  effect. 

"A  miracle,  doctor." 

"Look  here,  daughter,"  said  Dr.  Wilson.  "Either  we've  got 
to  believe  in  God  and  in  the  Bible,  or  we  do  not.  If  we  do,  we've 
got  to  accept  God's  word  and  his  directions  as  given  in  the 
Bible." 

Rev.  William  Rader,  pastor  of  the  Third  Congregational 
Church,  would  not  commit  himself  on  the  subject.  He  admitted 
having  prayed  for  rain  in  his  church,  but  could  not  be  induced 
to  be  more  positive  than  to  say  the  necessity  for  miracles  had 
passed  and  with  it  the  age  of  miracles.  Here  are  what  I  deern 
his  most  positive  words: 

I  am  not  prepared  to  say  dogmatically  that  a  mira- 
cle will  be  vouchsafed,  a  complete  change  in  the  laws 
of  nature,  in  answer  to  our  prayers.     The  miracles  of 
Christ  were,  so  to  speak.  His  credentials.   The  necessity 
for  miracles  and  their  operation  is  a  thing  of  the  past. 
Six  of  the  most  noted  clergymen  were  interviewed  and  of 
these  only  two,  one  Jewish  Rabbi,  Dr.  Voorsanger,  and  one  Con- 
gregationalist,  Dr.  George  C.  Adams  of  the  First  Church,  were 
positive  in  discouraging  prayers  for  rain.     Only  one  of  those 
who  expressed  belief  in  the  efficacy  and  advisability  of  prayer 
for  rain  would  say  he  attributed  the  generous  precipitation  to 
God  having  pitied  California  farmers  and  granted  the  petitions 
of  those  who  importuned  him  for  rain. 


WHY  DO  THEY  PRAY? 


A      QUESTION      THAT      MINISTERS      OF      PROTESTANT 
CHURCHES    SHOULD    ANSWER. 

Those  \vho  attend  any  orthodox  church,  if  they  pause  to 
analyze  the  prayers  offered  therein,  will  wonder  why  they  are 
offered.  If  it  is  true,  as  the  average  Protestant  authority  in- 
sists, that  the  age  of  miracles  ceased  with  the  death  of  the  im- 
mediate successors  of  Peter  and  John,  prayers  are  idle.  Answers 
to  prayers  must  come  by  supernatural  mediums  and  the  an- 
swers must  hence  be  miraculous.  Now  if  the  suppliant  does  not 
believe  that  miracles  can  occur,  he  wastes  his  time  when  pray- 
ing for  the  miraculous. 

Do  these  daily,  weekly  or  semi-weekly  prayers  call  for 
miracles?  If  they  do  not,  why  does  the  Rev.  Dr.  Duguid  be- 
seech the  Lord  to  bless  the  Sunday  School  of  his  church  "in  an 
especial  manner?"  This,  according  to  my  experience,  is  a' 
favorite  form  of  petition.  If  they  do  not  believe  in  miracles, 
why  do  they  pray  to  the  Lord  to  endow  the  revivalist,  who 
conies  to  re-awaken  sluggish  Christians  and  convert  sinners, 
with  especial  power — inspiration  for  the  work? 

If  they  do  not  believe  God  will  work  a  miracle  in  granting 
their  petitions  for  relief  to  the  oppressed;  for  the  triumph  of  a 
just  cause  in  war  or  politics;  for  wisdom  and  the  spirit  of  jus- 
tice to  pervade  the  minds  of  legislators,  executive  officers  and 


1 84 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 


magistrates,  why  do  they  continue  to  repeat  the  petitions?  I 
cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  here  comment  on  the  strife 
that  usually  occurs  before  the  complete  organization  of  legis- 
latures, and  between  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  for  the  appoint- 
ment as  chaplain.  If,  as  many  ministers  say  in  private  con- 
versation, that  the  average  legislative  body  is  past  praying  for, 
why  do  they  strive  for  the  employment  of  offering  idle,  per- 
functory supplications?  If  the  average  impromptu  prayers  of 
sectarian  ministers  do  not  call  for  miracles  they  mean  nothing. 
If  the  printed  prayers  prescribed  in  the  book  of  that  church,  so 
many  of  whose  ministers  like  to  be  called  priests  of  the  holy 
Catholic  Church,  do  not  call  for  miracles  they  call  for  the  exer- 
cise of  great  charity  toward  those  who  repeat  them,  much  as 
the  Thibetan  grinds  out  a  prayer  from  his  "mill"  just  as  their 
forefathers  did  and  largely  because  they  did. 


CONCLUSION. 


Lest  any  should  consider  this  work  incomplete  because  it 
contains  no  argument  in  favor  of  metaphysical  healing  as 
against  the  agnostics  and  materialists  who  discredit  all  belief 
in  the  miraculous,  I  simply  remind  readers  that  it  was  no  part 
of  my  object.  As  a  rule  skeptics,  "liberals,"  agnostics  and 
other  free  thinkers  have  generally  shown  a  willingness  to  ac- 
cord to  those  whose  teachings  differ  from  them  the  same  liberty 
they  claim.  If  any  argument  is  to  be  made  against  those  whom 
the  orthodox  people  regard  as  unevangelical  or  inndel,  it  must 
be  made  by  others,  or  if  made  by  me  it  must  be  done  after  I 
have  received  more  light.  My  opinion  is  that,  so  far  as  mere 
argument  goes,  they  are  far  more  consistent  and  logical  than  the 
orthodox  Christians.  The  only  ground  on  which  the  latter  argue 
against  the  credibility  of  present-day  miracles  is  that  of  want 
of  necessity,  because  the  word  of  God  is  before  men  to  read  and 
learn  for  themselves.  I  simply  wish  to  remind  those  who  make 
the  argument  that  the  word  of  God  was  before  the  Pharisees 
and  the  Jews  in  general  when  Jesus  was  working  miracles  be- 
fore their  eyes.  The  Pharisees  were  the  best  educated  of  all 
the  Jews  and  Saul  of  Tarsus  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
scholars  of  that  sect,  yet  it  required  one  of  the  most  striking 
of  ail  miracles  to  convert  Saul,  the  persecutor,  into  Paul,  the 
promoter,  of  Christianity.  I  would  also  remind  them  that  if 
God  is  no  respecter  of  persons  He  will  save  the  poor  and  ignor- 
ant as  well  as  the  rich  and  the  learned.  There  are  millions  of 
Ignonmt  and  poor  and  there  are  millions  more  of  purse-proud 
and  educated  bigots  whom  nothing  short  of  miracles  could  de- 
tach from  the  systems  of  worship  and  the  mere  mannerisms 


i86 


PROTESTANT  MIRACLES. 


of  religion.  I  would  also  remind  the  orthodox  believer  in 
ancient  and  soorner  of  modern  miracles  that,  according  to 
thtir  belief,  there  is  less  chance  of  salvation  for  those  willfully 
ignorant  of  the  things  celestial  than  for  the  ignorant  who  hav$ 
had  less  opportunity  to  learn  than  have  the  wealthy,  and  hence 
that  the  wealthy  and  intelligent  bigot  needs  miracles  for  his 
regeneration  more  than  do  the  lowly. 

It  is  no  part  of  my  purpose  to  argue  the  truth  of  Christian 
Science  here.  I  am  not  authorized  to  speak  for  the  church  that 
teaches  it.  My  argument  is  that  self-styled  orthodoxy  has  no 
'  warrant  for  assuming  that  the  age  of  miracles  is  past;  that  its 
devotees  are  inconsistent  in  so  doing  while  they  pray  for  God 
to  interpose  His  might  to  confer  benefits  upon  them  or  free 
them  from  evil;  that  they  stultify  themselves  when  they  say 
no  miracles  are  performed  now  and  in  the  same  breath,  per- 
haps, tell  of  blessings  bestowed  upon  them  or  others  by  mys- 
terious means.  I  argue  that  they  really  believe  in  miracles 
while  theoretically  disbelieving,  just  as  they  theoretically  be- 
lieve in  taking  no  heed  for  the  morrow,  etc.,  but  practically 
believe  in  devoting  six  days  of  the  week  to  the  acquisition  of 
wealth  and  generally  infringe  a  little  on  the  other  day,  taking 
heed  all  the  time  for  the  future.  I  argue  that  they  believe  in 
miracles  brought  about  by  their  own  prayers  and  those  of 
other  members  of  the  denominations  to  which  they  belong, 
but  discredit  those  of  other  churches  and  especially  those  which 
Catholics  believe  in.  Finally  I  argue  that  their  own  acts  show 
that  they  believe  that  they  disbelieve  in  present-day  miracles, 
but,  as  was  said  by  a  droll  commentator  on  a  similar -subject, 
"in  believing  that  they  believe  they  only  believe  they  believe." 


POSTSCRIPT. 


Since  most  of  the  matter  contained  in  this  work  was 
placed  in  the  printers'  hands,  the  anniversary  of  the  capture 
of  Manila  by  Admiral  Dewey's  fleet  has  been  celebrated.  At 
the  celebrations  many  of  the  orations  were  delivered  by  clergy- 
men of  orthodox  Protestant  churches  and  in  nearly  all  such 
clergymen  offered  invocations.  In  both  oration  and  prayer  the 
extraordinary  character  of  the  victory  was,  in  almost  every 
instance,  attributed  to  the  interposition  of  God  in  favor  of  the 
Americans..  It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  among  the  clergy- 
men so  officiating  and  thus  attributing  to  Dewey's  victory  the 
character  of  a  miracle,  more  than  one  stultified  himself. 
Among  them  were  men  who  but  a  few  months  or  weeks  before 
had  denounced  Christian  Scientists  as  either  frauds  or  the 
dupes  of  a  fraud  because  they  believe  that  God  interposes  His 
beneficence  and  omniscience  between  man  and  all  kinds  of  sin 
and  suffering  when  man  complies  with  God's  laws  and  lives  in 
harmony  therewith. 

It  may  be  said  that  I  have  only  newspaper  testimony  for 
this  statement  of  the  attitude  of  the  clergy  to  miracles  in  this 
instance.  That  would  be  true,  but  ample  time  has  lapsed  since 
that  celebration  for  those  ministers  who  may  have  been  in- 
correctly Quoted  to  have  corrected  the  errors,  but  no  such  cor- 
rections have  come  to  my  notice.  Newspaper  men  of  experi- 
ence will  accept  this  as  the  strongest  endorsement  that  could 
be  given  of  the  correctness  of  the  reports,  because  it  has  be- 
come almost  a  journalistic  proverb  that  ministers  always  dis- 
puted reports  of  their  utterances  when  their  own  words  were 
quoted  in  refuting  them  or  in  placing  them  in  inconsistent 
positions. 


RECAPITULATION. 


This  book  contains  the  results  of  several  months  of  dili- 
gent search  among  the  writings  of  eminent  Protestant  clergy- 
men, authors,  teachers  and  learned  laymen  who  dissent  from 
the  opinion  that  the  age  of  miracles  had  passed  away  long 
before  the  Reformation.  It  has  been  the  object  of*a  class  to 
create  the  impression  that  the  belief  that  miracles  no  longer 
occurred  was  general,  if  not  universal,  among  Protestants  of 
all  denominations. 

In  this  volume  I  have  collected  facts  and  opinions  from  the 
writings  of  men  whose  names  entitle  them  to  respect,  which 
facts  and  opinions  show  that  events  which  are  usually  classed 
as  miracles  have  occurred  in  every  century  and  nearly  every 
year  since  the  Reformation.  These  miracles  range  from  in- 
spirations for  sermons  to  the  averting  of  disease  and  danger. 
Although  those  who  discredit  the  accounts  of  what  appear  to 
be  miraculous  healings  effected  by  the  Christian  Scientists 
under  the  teachings  of  Mrs.  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy,  and  who 
especially  revile  her  claim  to  have  had  a  revelation  of  that 
science,  assume  to  do  so  on  the  strength  of  a  pretended  dogma, 
I  find  them  believing  in  and  at  least  impliedly  teaching  "special 
providences."  I  find  also  that  men  eminent  in  their  churches 
have  declared  that  they,  too,  were  especially  inspired  for 
especial  and  critical  occasions;  that  they  have  witnessed  or  ex- 
perienced divine  blessings  in  the  form  of  rescue  from  death  by 


RECAPITULATION. 


189 


freezing,  by  violence  of  enemies,  by  flood,  by  storm;  in  battle 
and  in  wreck;  that  men  have  been  raised  up  or  called  to  the 
work  to  fill  especial  missions;  that  disease  has  been  healed, 
poverty  alleviated;  crime  prevented  and  criminals  converted. 
I  find  among  the  leaders  of  Protestant  churches  many  who 
teach  or  have  taught  in  more  or  less  crude  fashion  the  main 
ideas  which  Mrs.  Eddy  has  reduced  to  a  science.  I  find  that  of 
those  who  have  most  bitterly  attacked  Mrs.  Eddy's  system 
within  the  range  of  my  knowledge  all,  or  nearly  all,  continue 
to  petition  God  for  blessings  after  having  denounced  Mrs.  Eddy 
for  doing  the  same  thing  by  a  different  method. 

I  also  find  some  very  absurd  discrepancies  and  inconsist- 
encies in  the  arguments  of  those  who  attack  Christian  Science. 
Among  these  is  the  veneration  in  which  are  held  some  of  the 
eminent  teachers  of  Methodism,  Baptism,  Congregationalism, 
Presbyterianism,  etc.,  although  nearly  every  man  thus  honored 
taught  something  essentially  miraculous  and  to  that  extent, 
in  harmony  with  Christian  Science,  though  they  all  groped  in 
the  dark  as  to  what  they  called  "the  means  of  grace." 

In  contemplating  this  condition  I  find  but  one  thing  in 
Mrs.  Eddy's  system  with  which  they  have  any  logical  ground 
for  quarreling.  That  is  what  a  few  are  brave  enough  to 
acknowledge,  viz:  The  reduction  of  divine  healing  to  a 
science.  This  has  been  pronounced  profanation  by  a  few.  Al- 
though not  openly  endorsed  by  the  many,  it  seems  the  only 
ground  on  which  they  can  defend  their  action.  Even  this  is 
as  absurd  as  the  action  of  some  communities  of  the  "Amish" 
Menoriites  who  have  forbidden  the  use  of  windmills  by  their 
members  because  they  deemed  it  profanation  to  reduce  God's 


RECAPITULATION. 

winds  to  slavery  by  using  machines  that  would  make  the  ele- 
ments work  for  man. 

I  find  the  hymnals  of  nearly  all  the  churches  and  sects 
replete  with  evidence  of  either  belief  in  miracles  or  poetic  fic- 
tions that  indicate  such  a  belief,  and  I  have  rarely  attended  a 
religious  meeting  in  which  the  prayers  failed  to  ask  for  bless- 
ings, the  granting  of  which  would  involve  the  working  of 
miracles. 

While  many  saintly  men  in  the  churches  have  been  able 
to  relieve  suffering  mortals,  none  have  ever  been  able  to  teach 
others  how  to  do  the  same  work  or  to  invest  them  with  the 
power  as  Jesus  and  His  apostles  did.  Now  when  Mrs.  Eddy 
has  accomplished  her  work,  her  claims  to  have  been  inspired 
are  met  by  denunciation  and  ridicule,  as  presumptuous,  if  not 
blasphemous,  the  healings  effected  through  her  and  her  pupils 
are  declared  frauds,  impostures  or  delusions,  though  neither 
she  nor  her  students  pretend  that  their  wor*k  is  miraculous. 
They  say  it  is  in  conformity  with  divinely  natural  law  and  that 
by  observing  that  law  man  may  defy  disease  as  easily  as  all 
Christians  say  he  may  defy  sin. 

This  work  is  not  authorized  by  Christian  Scientists.  No 
member  of  the  Church  of  Christ  has  ever  read  a  page  of  the 
manuscript  or  proof,  nor  has  any  of  the  church  authorities, 
either  local  or  in  the  headquarters  in  Boston,  been  consulted 
as  to  the  expediency  or  propriety  of  publishing  it. 


INDEX. 


Abbe,  Paris 149 

Afraid  of  the  word  "miracles"   170 

Age  of  miracles 7,  139 

Aid  to  revivalists  40,  45 

Aiken's  history  of  Presbyterianism 98 

Ambrose,  St 16 

Anabaptists  (see  Baptists)    

Anglican  miracles  13 

Argyll,  Duke  of 24 

Arnold,  Matthew  77 

Asbury,  Bishop  Francis   39 

Augustine,  St 11,  149 

Bampton  lectures    9 

Baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost 97 

Baptists'  testimony   64 

Beecher,  H.  W 11,  175 

Beecher,  Toyman    102 

Berdoe,  Dr 135 

Bernard,  St 79 

Bertram's  encyclopaedia    11 

Blasphenier  killed   120 

Boehme's  mysticism  136 

Boss  Tweed  164 

Bowman,  Bishop,  healed   107 

Boyer's  history  of  Vaudois   20 

Boy,  wonder  healer 123 

Bruce,  Professor  A.  M 76 

Burke,  Edmund   80 

Bushnell,  Rev.  Horace   34 

Calvanist  authorities  17 

California,  miracles    121 

Camp  meetings,  origin  of 18 

Carlyle,  Rev.  Alex 22 

Cartwright,  Rev.  Peter 41 

Catarrh  cured 107 

Caterpillar  plague  abated 48 


192 

Caughey,  James,  revivalist   •   56 

Cave  on  St.  Ambrose  16 

Cecil,  Rev.  Richard    " Ill 

Charles,  Mrs.  E 14& 

Charlatan  cures,  etc 93 

Christian  ago  ....•- 117 

Christlieb,  Professor  Theo.   . . , 87 

Christian  Science  77,  85 

Clarke,  Dr.  E.  H 90 

Cobbe,  Francis  Power   159 

College  professors'  views  71 

Communing  with  God 59 

Combinations  of  forces  103 

Congregation  converted   54 

Conversion  like  Paul's    96 

Conclusion  185 

Cranmer  on  divine  selections 13 

Credulity  and  incredulity  33 

Cumberland  Presbyterians   18 

Curtis,  Rev.  Lucius  151 

Cyclone  diverted   50 

Dabney,  Professor  R.  L 140 

Davy,  Sir  Humphrey   162 

Dead  raised  40 

Debt  miraculously  paid 177 

Deceit  attributed  to  Jesus 78 

Degrees  in  miracles   153 

Deserting  husbands  converted 107,  114 

Dictation  to  Omnipotence   143 

Disbelief  and  results    7 

Dyspepsia  healed  107 

Divine  guidance  18,  39,  48,  60,  99 

Divine  wrath 164 

Doubt  of  God's  power 98 

Drunkard  converted  *3 

Duke  of  Argyll    24 

Duke  of  Savoy  22 

Dwight,  Professor  Timothy 81 

Ears  do  not  hear 92 

Eddy,  Mrs.  Mary  B 13» 


INDEX. 

Edwards,  "Sailor"  69 

Egede,  Hans 89 

Elizabeth,  Queen  13 

Episcopal  church  13 

Escape  from  disease    46 

Evans',  history  of  Shakers 140 

Evangelists'  miracles 38 

Evidence  of  miracles 137 

Eyes  do  not  see  92 

Farrar.  Canon 15,  119 

Fasting  for  miracles   30,  54 

Fed  miraculously  69 

Ferriei ,  Dr.  David    92 

Ferriage  provided  for  142 

Finney,  Professor  C.  G ! . .   18,  95 

Fisher,  Professor  George  P '  79 

Fiske,  Professor  John  86 

Fog  in  aid  of  Vaudois  21 

Fowler,  Bishop  C.  H 49 

Fox,  George 152 

French  fleet  destroyed 81 

Gairdner,  James 142 

George.  Bishop,  healed   53 

Giles,  Rev.  Chauncy  45 

Gilly,  William  Stephen  ...    16,  21 

God  raises  up  men 18 

God  guided  Puritans 29 

God  defeats  a  trickster 31 

God  swept  the  strings 133 

Godet,  F 74 

Greatrakes,  Valentine   157 

Gregory,  St 11,  148 

Gruber,  Rev.  Jacob  45 

Harris,  Professor  Samuel  80 

Harvard  college 17 

Hatfield,  Dr.  E.  F 108 

Hays'  Presbyterian  history  17 

Healing  by  prayer 44,  53,  65,  107,  116 

Healing  by  royal  touch  85 


i94 

Hemphill,  Rev.  John   181 

Henry  VIII   . .  / 14 

Hensoldt,  Dr.  Heinrich   141 

Hohenshell,  the  healer 124 

Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell 90 

Holbrook,  Rev.  J.  C 174 

Holy  coat  of  Treves 16 

Hopkins,  Professor  Mark 103 

Hospital  walls  prayed  up  118 

Howitt,  William 11 

Hnmboldt 162 

Hume 144,  163 

Huxley 10,  152,  163 

Hymns  for  miracles  128 

Illustration  by  miracle   112 

Indian  mortality  aids  Puritans   32 

Infidel  testimony 152 

Inskip,  William  108 

Inspiration  of  preachers 18,  48,  99,  117 

Inspiration  for  paying  cash 117 

Inspiration  in  general   138 

Jansenist  miracles  149,  163 

Jerks  (religious  contortions)   38,  42 

Jesting  to  deny  fact 36 

Jones,  Bishop  107 

Jones,  Rev.  Sam 47 

Judd,  Carrie  P 109 

Judgment  on  sinners  43 

Keach,  Benjamin .67 

Kiffen,  Rev.  William 68 

Killed  by  imagination  124 

Kinnear,  J.  Boyd,  on  cure  143 

Knapp.  Elder  Jacob   40 

Knollys,  Rev.  Hanserd   65 

Kostlin,  Julius   74 

Krummacher,  Rev.  Dr 118,  177 

Labor  divinely  rewarded   100 

;  Lama,  Grand,  of  Thibet   .141 


INDEX. 

Law,  "Reign  of    24 

Law   above  human  ken 25 

Law  of  nature 27,  75 

Law,  higher 77 

Law,  combination  of  50 

Law,  William  136 

Lee,  Mother  Ann 140 

Lecky  on  doubt 10,  152 

Liefchild,  Dr 119 

Life  miraculously  saved  50 

Life  without  brain 92 

Limiting  Omnipotence 145,  158 

Liquified  air 126 

Locke,  on  natural  law  27 

Luther's  belief 74,  116,  120 

Lutheran  witness   150 

Macaulay  on  Cranmer  13 

McAdow's  revelation 18 

McLeod,  Rev.  Donald Ill 

Maffitt,  J.  Newland  44 

Mahaffy,  J.  P 27 

Mallock  on  Huxley  10 

Manfred,  Jacob 155 

Marpingen  miracles   152 

Marion,  General  Frances   155 

Marriage  prevented  59 

Mark  of  Arethusa  165 

Marbden,  Rev.  Joshua  39 

Mather,  Cotton  and  Increase 32 

Methodists  and  miracles 38 

Melancthon  healed  89,  116 

Menno,  Simon 64 

Mennonites  (see  Baptists)   

Middleton,  Conyers,  on  disbelief 15 

Millman's  history   164 

Minister  converted 57 

Miracles,  of  healing 44,  53,  65,  107,  116 

Miracles,  for  illustration   112 

Miracles,  defined g,  169 

Miracles.  Baptists   .'     10 

Miracles,  Methodists 38  to  61,  69'' 


196 


INDEX. 


Miracles,  miscellaneous 136  to  146 

Miracles  and  Providences 10 

Miracles,  Tractarian  154 

Miracles,  non-religious 121 

Miracles,  workers  expelled   14 

Miracles,  in  1899  179 

Moody,  Dwight  L 110,  ITS 

Moravian  example   145 

Mormon  miracle 167 

Mysterious  circulation  of  news  . , 12ft 

Mysticism — Boehme's    13ft 

Neumark,.  George   , 132 

Newman,  Cardinal 12,  129- 

Newspaper  miracles  12ft 

News  mysteriously  circulated   126 

New  Ulm  massacre  164 

Oberlin  college 100 

Paris,  Abbe  149 

Popular  Science  Monthly  152 

Porter,  Professor  Noah  81 

Prayer,  Efficacy  of  45,  49,  57,  6T 

Prayer,  Power  of 67,  81,  103,  110  US 

Prayer,  Gauge  140 

Prayer,  For  temporal  concerns  118- 

Prayer,  Cure  (orthodox)    5ft 

Precocious  prophet 22 

Presbyterians  quoted  17  to  27 

Postscript   187 

Princes  divinely  appointed 1? 

Protestant  repression    14 

Providences  and  miracles 10 

Providence  guides  an  arrow 20 

Providential  immigration 19 

Puritan  miracles  28  to  33 

Quaker  marvels 34,  152" 

Rader.  Rev.  William   182 

Rain  by  prayer 30,  103: 

Recapitulation    188 


197 

Reformation  a  miracle  17,  21 

Relics  and  miracles  , 15,  153 

Rescue  from  robbers   Ill 

Rescue  from  starvation Ill 

Rescue  from  pirates  112 

Results  of  disbelief  7,  35 

Revelations  to  men 18,  34,  41,  60,  64 

Robinson,  Rev.  Frederick 177 

Rockyzan,  John 145 

Russian  miracle  workers 86, 

San  Francisco  clergymen  179 

Saved  for  the  church  51 

Saved  from  starvation  30,  130 

Saved  from  wreck 29,  32,  89 

Scientists  rebuke  skeptics  162 

Scoffer  converted 52 

Scoffer  killed 43 

Scotch  believers 22 

Schu,  Karl  Gottlob  106 

Schwenkfeldians   14 

Simpson,  Bishop,  healed 107 

Shaker  marvels  140 

Skeptic  credulity  141,  148,  153 

Slander  refuted 34 

Smith,  Jennie  109 

Smith,  Rev.  John  142 

Soldier's  life  saved  119 

Specious  orthodox  reasoning  . . ." 139 

Spirit  perceived -. 94 

Spurgeon's  views  70,  89,  114 

Stephens,  Sir  James  ;J.53 

Steffens,  Heinrich  t 150 

Sunday  school  miracles 16 

Talmage,  Rev.  T.  D.  . ! 164 

Taylor,  Bishop  William   107 

Tractarian  miracles  154 

Traitor  stricken  dumb 65 

Trench,  Archbishop   169 

Tyndall's  views 10,  140 


198 


INDEX. 


Union  Theological  Seminary 74,  77 

Unseen  world 86 

Unwelcome  preacher   53 

Usher,  Archbishop   113 

Vaudois 20 

Visions,  marvelous 90 

Vision  of  Professor  Finney 97 

War  miracles 80 

Warburton,  Bishop  144 

Ware,  Dr.,  of  Boston  93 

Wace,  Bishop,  on  Huxley 10 

Waldenses  (see  Vaudois) 

Wallace,  Alfred  R 162 

Watson,  Dr,  James  V 52 

Wesley 39,  119 

Weather  affected  by  prayer 49 

Wilson,  Rev.  J.  A.  B 181 

Witchcraft 32 

Wonders  of  science 25 

Williams,  Roger   70 

White,  Andrew  D 83 

White  discredits  himself   84 

Why  do  they  pray 182 

Why  they  are  incensed  172 

Wreck  averted  89 

Yale  professors'  views : 79 


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